BEYOND
GMOs
Gene Editing:
The Next Big Threat
to Our Food
Supply, plus UPDATE:
Where Are We
on GMOs, Old and New?
Picture
Courtesy of Google Images
Part 1: Beyond GMO’s – Core Article
The world is always
looking for that “silver bullet”, a cure for all the problems of the world, and
when big corporations, or nations, come up with one they think they can sell,
you can bet they can also come up with great hype to do just that. The public
is so gullible, especially when being told something new is going to solve all
sorts of problems, with no inconvenience or expense to themselves, and most of
us usually fall for it.
Just as GMO’s were
“spun” and sold to the public over the last 30 years, and are still being sold,
as the innovation that will “feed the world” with “no weeds”, “less pesticides”,
offering “greater yields”, and “equal nutrition”, all of which have been proven
as not true, Gene Editing is being sold as the panacea, that will eliminate
hereditary and infectious diseases, that will cure Cancer, stop the spread of
Malaria and other insect-vector diseases, cure the HIV virus, end World Hunger,
stop Aging, etc., etc. They plan to accomplish this magic by manipulating genes
in DNA, and since DNA can be found in the nucleus of every cell, in every Genome, of every Living Organism, their prospects are unlimited.
For centuries, man
has been assisting the natural evolution of crops and domestic animals through
breeding, not just through natural evolution, but with some human intervention.
It makes sense that the breeding of two prize racehorses might possibly produce
champion offspring. Heirloom crops that have been found to resist Drought, by
the Seed Saver, for an example, when chosen to plant, might well yield crops
equally resistant to Drought.
But now in this age
of Genetic Engineering, more extreme methods have been devised, (within the past
50 years), to go beyond natural or assisted natural evolution, to actually
change the expression of genes within the DNA, or to actually change, or
mutate, the DNA itself, using various methods, from radiation to the introduction
of foreign plant or animal DNA (the production of GMO’s). These are the older
ways of changing the DNA in plants and animals, but just like with traditional
pharmaceutical research, such research has always been ‘trial and error’, ‘hit
or miss’, and took years, and lots of money to accomplish, and that is, if the
research scientists were lucky enough to come up with something that worked, to produce something that could be marketed.
But since 2012, a
new method of changing the DNA in Plants and Animals was invented, called the 'CRISPR Cas9' Gene Editing System, that has made the process more “precise”, has
“lowered the costs” (we read, more than 99%), and has made it “faster” and “easier”. Wouldn’t
that be wonderful, to be able to identify genes, that cause medical problems, and
silence them, or replace them with better genes? And not just in animal species,
livestock, and crops, but besides Agriculture, there are also hundreds of
projects for Industry, and even projects that purport to be Environmental. And
wouldn’t it be wonderful to wipe out whole species of mosquitoes that spread Malaria,
Dengue, Zika, and other viruses, for an example, and thereby, save millions of
lives?
The people that are
promoting this new method of targeting, snipping, and replacing DNA, have no end
to their prospects, so out comes the many that see themselves as the pioneers,
the entrepreneurs, the scientists, and out comes the billions in investments.
This is already the case on Wall Street where billions are now riding on Gene
Editing’s possible success. And all this CRISPR Cas9 science and technology is
“democratized” and is “open source,”, downloadable for free, and is so cheap,
and the enzymes and supplies necessary for experimentation can be mail ordered by
anyone that wants to place an order (for $70 - $250), so there is hardly any
barrier to anyone with a rudimentary lab (a few thousand dollars in lab equipment)
to enter the fray’. Who knows? Not just Monsanto, DuPont, etc. Anybody might
just be able to change the DNA in something, and walk away with the Jackpot.
Anyone, even you, could be the lucky one to make your billions on Gene Editing.
There’s no
regulation internationally, or in the
US. There are no cops on the beat. There’s nobody to stop you. Besides, Trump
has taught many, and they’ve adopted his stance, that all “regs” are evil and
unnecessary, so who needs them anyway?
Wouldn’t it be
wonderful if all this hype were true? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this system
really worked, if instead of the up until now ’trial and error’ system of microbiological research, this system could precisely identify the specific genes
within the DNA of the cells that are problems, and snip them out, cheap, fast,
and easy, and replace them with better genes, as easily and precisely as making
an edit in a Word Document? Gene Editing is being advertised as “an effective
suite of applications and molecular tools (molecular scissors) to precisely and
efficiently alter the genome in a user-defined manner”.
Hate to burst the
bubble of the bio-hackers and investors banking on this “get-rich-quick” scheme,
but there is more and more evidence that this method of identifying and
splicing genes into DNA is far from perfect. In fact, researchers on CRISPR Cas9
Gene Editing in experimental mice “found that many of the cells had large
genetic rearrangements, such as DNA deletions, and insertions. These changes could
lead to important genes being switched on or off, or other unexpected changes.”
These same risks could be projected to apply to gene editing in human DNA, or
with the DNA of any other species, when gene editing is performed.
A recent study, by
the Wellcome Sanger Institute, found that CRISPR Cas9 Gene Editing frequently
causes genetic mutations, and often not near the target site, where the desired
mutation was aimed. The problem is that the standard test, used for checking this
kind of DNA change, misses finding this genetic damage, so additional caution, and specific new technology testing, must be developed, and is warranted. Even
at the target site, the natural DNA repair system kicks in, to rejoin the
double helix strand of DNA, and this natural end-joining system is not always
perfect, providing additional risk of mutations and genetic damage.
The Medical
researchers seem to be more honest, about the risks and findings of genetic
damage from Gene Editing, than the Crop researchers, where comparatively little
has been reported, but “the off target effects in food plants could have
possible knock on effects on food safety, including unexpected toxicity and
allergenicity”. And with the relatively small amount of sequencing, having been
performed on these Plant and Livestock genomes, compared to the extensive,
billions of dollars and decades, of research on the Human Genome, this means
that the gene editing bio-hackers of Crops and Livestock are starting out with
far less knowledge of what they’re doing, when they’re Messing around with the DNA
and genes of these plant and animal genomes. How can they engage in altering
the DNA of a genome, before they fully understand what they are altering? Might
this lack of knowledge, of unintended consequences of mutations, deletions, and
genetic rearrangements from the editing of genes, jeopardize species. and ecosystems?
But all the new evidence
of potential problems with this brand-new technology of gene editing isn’t
putting any damper on it. Very soon, (if not already), throwing caution to the
wind, gene edited crops will be on the store shelves in food markets across the
US. In Canada, and now also in the US, they’re already marketing and using gene
edited soybean oil, (which is purported to have less transfat), with no labeling,
identification, or consumer notification, that your dinner was cooked in
gene-edited oil. And the first gene edited Salmon, raised by a Canadian
company, with a new facility in Indiana, has already been approved for sale in
the US, by the USDA, (Salmon that grow twice as large in half the time with half the
amount of feed).
Sonny Perdue, Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture has recently announced that the USDA (and we assume the FDA and EPA, as well), has no intention of labeling gene edited foods as such, on the basis that the USDA and the FDA and EPA have used for years for older GMO’s of “substantial equivalence”. He has also used the excuse, that it is even safer, or, at least, as safe, as “transgenic” GMO food. It's remarkable that he denigrated GMO's as "transgenic", in making the comparison, that gene edited foods, not being "transgenic", are preferable, so that explains why they needn't be labeled, according to Sonny Perdue.
Sonny Perdue, Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture has recently announced that the USDA (and we assume the FDA and EPA, as well), has no intention of labeling gene edited foods as such, on the basis that the USDA and the FDA and EPA have used for years for older GMO’s of “substantial equivalence”. He has also used the excuse, that it is even safer, or, at least, as safe, as “transgenic” GMO food. It's remarkable that he denigrated GMO's as "transgenic", in making the comparison, that gene edited foods, not being "transgenic", are preferable, so that explains why they needn't be labeled, according to Sonny Perdue.
Where we stand on
GMO’s, and on labeling of GMO's, will also be covered in this article.
And you can bet, with all the billions invested in gene editing, and all the investors clamoring for success in the dream of huge profits, the medical, agricultural, and industrial gene editing research and development is still barreling on, and they’re surely trying to keep a lid on the facts of risks of unintended genetic mutations, using the CRISPR Cas9 Gene Editing System.
And you can bet, with all the billions invested in gene editing, and all the investors clamoring for success in the dream of huge profits, the medical, agricultural, and industrial gene editing research and development is still barreling on, and they’re surely trying to keep a lid on the facts of risks of unintended genetic mutations, using the CRISPR Cas9 Gene Editing System.
Part 2: DNA, Genes, Chromosomes, and the Genome of
Every Living Organism
In this day and
age, all of us are familiar with DNA, in terms of ‘DNA Evidence’, that can
convict or exculpate a person of a crime, or of being at the scene of a crime,
because every cell, in every one of the 37.2 trillion cells, average, in each
person’s body, has the identical DNA, which is different from that of every
other person. In other words, whether you get the cell from saliva on a
cigarette butt or from a beer can, or from a hair, or from skin, or from
blood, the DNA inside each differentiated cell in each human organism is identical, and every individual’s DNA includes the entire “Genome”, or
Instruction Manual, of each individual, as a subset of the “Human Genome.”
When you think of
DNA as a tool for law enforcement, most people don’t realize that DNA is universal, that practically every living organism on Earth, plant or animal, has DNA
molecules, along with associated proteins, within the membrane containing the
nucleus of every cell within that individual, plant or animal. So, every plant or
animal has a Species Genome, or Instruction Manual, as determined by his or her
DNA. When I say, “his or her”, even plants have a sex.
In an earlier
article, Messing with Mother Nature, about GMO’s and Agriculture, we described
the miracle of each individual open-pollinated Seed, as if it were the embryo
of the plant, containing all the software (in its DNA) to replicate the
hardware of a new plant. But to understand this more fully, you have to
understand more about what DNA is, and how it works.
DNA stands for’
Deoxyribonucleic Acid, which derives from the ‘Deoxyribose’ sugar molecules, that form the two spines of the double helix DNA, and resides only in the
nucleus of the cell. The DNA in every single one of your 37.2 trillion cells
(average) is packed into the nucleus, along with associated proteins, but if
you were to be able to elongate the DNA within each cell, it would stretch 1.8
meters. That’s one incredibly complex Instruction Manual!
All DNA is built in
the structure of the “double helix”, like a ‘twisted ladder’, or ‘spiral
staircase’. The two backbones in the double helix are formed by a chain of
deoxyribose sugar molecules, alternating with phosphate molecules, and each
pair of one sugar and one phosphate, along with one of four nucleotide bases,
ACTG’s, the only four letters of the genetic code.
(A), Adenine is
always hydrogen bonded to (T), Thymine, on the opposite backbone of the DNA,
and (G), Guanine is always hydrogen bonded to (C) Cytosine on the opposite
backbone. Remarkably, this works for every living organism, plant or animal,
and these four letters form the ‘Genetic Code’ or ‘Genetic Alphabet’ within the
DNA of every species,
The nucleotide bases, bonded together, are like the rungs of this twisted ladder. Before cells divide,
through an involved process of Mitosis and Meiosis, the DNA actually has to
unravel, (picture the twisted ladder un-twisting, so that when the hydrogen
bonds, holding the two backbones of the double helix, break apart, they can, in
turn, attach to the new set of two new matching backbones, that have been
produced, all within the nucleus, forming two identical double helix strands of
DNA in the cell’s nucleus, for a moment, until the cell actually divides into two identical
cells, each with its own identical double helix strand of DNA within its
nucleus. In order to get a better understanding of that, please check out this
illustration.
What we’re talking
about here is incredibly complex, and we are not getting deeply into it here,
but since DNA can only reside in the nucleus of the cell, the only way the DNA and
the genes within the DNA can express themselves is through long and shorts
single strands of RNA, similar to DNA, but in the form of single strands, and not in a double helix. The genetic code within the DNA is 'transcribed' onto every
RNA strand, long and short, which (the RNA) are able to freely migrate within
the nucleus, and are able to penetrate the membrane surrounding the nucleus, unlike
DNA, which cannot escape the nucleus. In this way, the RNA is used to
communicate the genetic code written in the DNA, outside of the nucleus of
the cell, into the cytoplasm, and among the cells and organs of the body,
through the production of amino acids, based on the genetic code, that, in turn,
create proteins, that govern the functions of the cells, organs, and processes
within the organism. RNA is used in order to express the transcribed genetic
code, within the DNA, to the rest of the organism.
“The Gene is the
basic physical and functional unit of Heredity.” Our genes shape who we are as
individuals and as a species, just like the genes do in all animal and plant life
on Earth. Human genes are arranged on 46 chromosomes within the double-stranded
DNA, made up of 22 pairs of chromosomes plus a pair of sex chromosomes (2 X’s
for females, and an X and a Y sex chromosome for males). Half of the DNA of any
individual of a species, along with his or her genes, arranged on chromosomes, are from the Female Egg, or Mother, and half the DNA comes from the Male Sperm, or Father. For this reason, the DNA of brothers, sisters, and close relatives,
may have more similarity, than to the general population, but even with close
relations, the DNA, among individuals, is never identical. This applies to all
plants and animals, not just to humans.
Karyotope of
the 23 Chromosomes of a typical Human Male Genome
The Human Genome
Project was sponsored mainly by the US, the UK, Japan, France, and Germany, in
order to map the nucleotides and genes within the DNA of the human genome. This
project, lasting from 1990 to 2003, was performed chiefly in 20 universities in
the sponsor countries, and a catalog of the results, published in 2004,
“sequenced” about 3 billion DNA base pairs (nucleotides-ACTG’s), and mapped
over 20,000 to 25,000 genes.
In the years since,
several competing gene catalogs have been developed, but with thousands of
differences between them, and as of September 2018, with a broader definition
of the “gene”, that includes many genes with no genetic alphabet coding, the
latest count is 46,831 different genes, within the human genome. Even these
latest studies acknowledged areas of the human genome, that are still a mystery
with current microbiological technology. So, after $2.7 billion were spent on
the Human Genome Project by 2003, and, certainly, after many additional millions have
been spent in the decades since, any honest scientist or researcher must
acknowledge. that we still have much more to learn about the human genome.
And the genomes of
crops and livestock and mosquitoes, etc., that are at this moment being
experimented upon with gene editing, and going, or about to go, to market, (with virtually no testing), are
infinitely less researched, than the human genome has been, so that the
scientists, working on DNA alteration in plants and animals, know infinitely
less about the sequencing in the genomes of these organisms, and so have even
less of an understanding of the possible unintended consequences from their
tinkering with their DNA.
Part 3: What is CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing? How Does
It Work?
And Why It Might
Not Be All It’s Cracked Up to Be.
Though the following paragraphs are from a pro-gene editing article published in 2015 in WIRED magazine and used by a company called Synthego, a supplier to the CRISPR industry, to promote Gene Editing and investment in it, we’ll start with this as an introduction, along with the hype. I have also included some brief notes, seen in [brackets].
“In the early days of gene editing,
biologists had a molecular tool kit that was somewhat akin to a printing press.
Which is to say, altering DNA was a messy, labor-intensive process of loading
genes onto viruses bound for target cells [GMO Crops]. It involved more than a fair amount of
finger-crossing. Today, scientists have the genetic equivalent of Microsoft
Word, and they are beginning to edit DNA almost as easily as software engineers
modify code. The precipitating event? Call it, the "Great CRISPR Quake of 2012".
“If you’re asking, “What’s CRISPR?”, the short answer is that it’s a revolutionary new class of molecular tools [molecular
scissors], that scientists can use to precisely target and cut any kind of
genetic material. CRISPR systems are the fastest, easiest, and cheapest methods, scientists have ever had, to manipulate the code of life in any organism on
Earth, humans included. It is, simply, the first technology truly capable of
changing the fundamental chemistry of who we are.
“The long answer is that CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly
Interspaced Palindromic Repeats [in the ACTGs, the Genetic Code]. CRISPR
systems consist of a protein with sequence-snipping capabilities
and a genetic GPS guide [Guide RNA]. Such systems naturally evolved across the bacterial
kingdom [in Yogurt and Cheese production], as a way to remember and defend
against invading viruses. But researchers recently discovered they could
repurpose that primordial immune system [in bacteria] to precisely alter
genomes, setting off a billion-dollar boom in DNA hacking.
“Every industry is throwing mad money at CRISPR - Pharma, Agriculture,
Energy, Materials Manufacturing, you name it. Even the Weed [Marijuana] guys
want in. Companies are using it to make cancer-curing medicines, climate-change-fighting crops, biofuel-oozing
algae, and self-terminating mosquitoes. Academic
researchers have almost universally adopted CRISPR to more deeply understand
the biology of their model organisms. Supporting this bio-hacking bonanza is an
increasingly crowded CRISPR back-end supply chain;
businesses [that are]building gene-editor design tools and shipping synthetic
guide RNAs or pre-CRISPR’d cell lines to these companies’ doors. So far,
though, very few CRISPR-enhanced products have made it into the hands of actual
consumers. In their place, hyperbolic headlines have bugled society’s greatest
hopes and fears for the technology, from saving near-extinct species to
igniting a superbaby arms race.”
In further explanation, let me offer the words of Jennifer Doudna,
one of the two coinventors of the CRISPR Cas9 system of Gene Editing, as I
transcribed them, from a short video she presented, entitled, ‘How does CRISPR Work?’
Before she gives us her brief explanation, she tells us the story of her nightmarish dream of meeting Adolf Hitler, and having to explain CRISPR to him, showing her consciousness of the gravity of her invention. You can view this entire short video for yourself in the first video section, Part 12, of this report. Again, we will insert some notes of further explanation [in brackets].
Before she gives us her brief explanation, she tells us the story of her nightmarish dream of meeting Adolf Hitler, and having to explain CRISPR to him, showing her consciousness of the gravity of her invention. You can view this entire short video for yourself in the first video section, Part 12, of this report. Again, we will insert some notes of further explanation [in brackets].
“The CRISPR technology is based on a bacterial immune system [in
yogurt and cheese production] that allows bacteria to fight viral infection.”
[”Once scientists learned how the CRISPR system worked in bacteria, they
figured out how to reprogram it, to allow efficient editing of the DNA of any
species.”]
“How did they do this [CRISPR Gene Editing]? They actually use a
programmable enzyme called Cas9, which they can program with the little bits of
RNA, these are little copies of DNA sequences [the ‘alphabet’ genetic code],and
the [CRISPR] Cas9 protein to find a piece of DNA inside of the cell and cut it,
and when that cleavage occurs [in the DNA], the cells take over, repair the break,
and in the process, introduce a change in the DNA precisely at that place”,
[deletions or insertions of new DNA material with new genes and new chromosomes,
so that the gene expression of that cell will also change.]
In my limited understanding, the CRISPR protein molecule, attached
to the Cas9 enzyme, along with a guide RNA strand included, penetrates the
membrane of the nucleus of the cell, and, then, it runs up and down the double
helix strand of DNA, within the nucleus of that cell, to find the exact place, matching the genetic alphabetic code in the guide RNA, so it knows where to
clamp down onto the DNA, and make two cuts on one of the strands of the double
helix, where they want to insert genetic changes, at a beginning point and an
endpoint, as determined by the match of the guide RNA.
Now the natural cell mechanisms, that do the reattachment of the cut strand of DNA, take over, so that there will be still be one complete, repaired, double helix strand of DNA within the nucleus of that cell. Despite quality control mechanisms within the cells of every living thing, this natural process of reattachment of cut DNA in cells, called NHEJ, Non-Homologous End Joining, is one of the weaknesses in the purported perfection of the CRISPR system. The cell has a mechanism to reattach the cut strand of DNA, but this presents just one more opportunity for imperfections, and hence mutations.
Now the natural cell mechanisms, that do the reattachment of the cut strand of DNA, take over, so that there will be still be one complete, repaired, double helix strand of DNA within the nucleus of that cell. Despite quality control mechanisms within the cells of every living thing, this natural process of reattachment of cut DNA in cells, called NHEJ, Non-Homologous End Joining, is one of the weaknesses in the purported perfection of the CRISPR system. The cell has a mechanism to reattach the cut strand of DNA, but this presents just one more opportunity for imperfections, and hence mutations.
In much of the research, in various studies, evidence has been
found of the imperfection of the CRISPR Cas9 Gene Editing system. Besides the
desired effects of the intended genetic changes, CRISPR Cas9 gene editing
frequently caused genetic mutations, deletions, insertions and genetic code
rearrangements, in areas of the DNA, that had not been targeted. Rather than
list the studies, and give the details of these findings, of unintended mutations
and changes in gene expression, from CRISPR Cas9 gene editing, you’d be better
served by reading the enclosed articles and documents towards the end of this
post in Part 11. This will give you a much deeper understanding of the risks of CRISPR
Cas9 gene editing, and why we, just as does Jennifer Doudna, the co-inventor of
CRISPR, urge some regulation in the current “free for all”.
But Doudna, still a big supporter of gene editing, also said in this
same video, “Gene Editing
can also be used in the ‘germline’, that means, in eggs or sperm or embryos,
[or seeds], and when changes are made to DNA in these cells, the trait can be
passed on to all of their future descendants.”
In the meantime, throwing caution to the wind, gene edited crops
and gene edited fish and meat will soon be in the restaurants and on grocery shelves in the US and
Canada. We have already heard of gene edited soybean oil being sold for use in
restaurants in Canada and the US, with no consumer notification or
warning. And, of course we have heard of Gene Edited Salmon from a Canadian
firm, now being raised for the US market in Indiana. Regardless of the risks,
the research and the business of CRISPR Cas9 Gene Editing is going full speed
ahead.
Part 4: What are Gene Drives, and Why are They So Dangerous?
This is a quick explanation of Gene
Drives, prepared by the UN’s Convention for Biological Diversity. We will again add some notes
in [brackets], in addition to their parentheses, and we will highlight some of
their words, to call them to your attention:
“Gene Drives (also
known as genetic forcing technologies) are
artificial genetic systems inserted into sexually reproducing
organisms, which are designed to always (or almost always) pass on a specific,
engineered trait to offspring - and all subsequent generations of offspring.
The effect of a functioning 'gene drive' inserted into an organism
is that the genetically engineered trait will quickly spread, by design,
throughout a population in order to alter the population or cause it to
crash. Over time — and in an accelerated way — GDOs [Gene Drive Organisms] could
theoretically modify or eradicate entire species. Envisioned
applications range from livestock breeding (in order to increase
‘genetic gain’), to industrial agriculture (to increase herbicide
sensitivity or to eliminate weeds), [or eliminate invasive species] or insect
‘pests’, to bio-warfare agent production, [It is known that the US
Department of Defense’s DARPA, ‘Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’, is
actively researching and experimenting with Gene drives, and calling it the
‘Safe Gene Project’.], and even to targeted disease-vector eradication
(e.g., mosquitoes that carry malaria). Gene drive technologies
are highly speculative; their efficacy is unproven; and evolutionary resistance
is expected to develop, especially when the insertion of the gene drive reduces the genetic fitness of the organism.”
The
above illustration shows that with normal sexual reproduction, and with normal
inheritance, a CRISPR Cas9 Gene Edited gene (or, also, a naturally mutated gene), will, over the course of many generations, become less common, because in each
of these generations, there is only a 50% chance of it being passed on to the
offspring. On the other hand, a CRISPR Cas9 Edited 'Gene Drive', where one copy
of the altered gene becomes two copies of that gene, on both strands of the
double helix DNA, so that, there is 100% chance, of the trait, or gene, being
passed on to the offspring, after mating in the general population.
The
problem with Gene Drives is that once they are released into an ecosystem, they
can’t be turned off, (despite lots of research into how to limit Gene Drives,
in duration or geography, no such solution has been found.). Once the genie
is out of the bottle, there is no putting it back. I suppose the only way
to stop a Gene Drive is to allow it to terminate the species, and hopefully
(?), with some degree of scientific assurance (?), it will not migrate to any other
species. If it is not a trait that will cause the collapse of the species,
eventually every member of that species will acquire that Gene Drive, and
trait, and pass it on, ad infinitum.
So,
with no international regulation, the only thing protecting us from the release
of experimental laboratory Gene Drives into the environment is reliance on Containment.
There is a better chance the military DARPA program, experimenting with Gene
drives, has developed sophisticated multilayer containment regimes, than
perhaps thousands of medical, agricultural, and industrial researchers,
currently experimenting on gene drives in the US alone, not to mention what’s
going on with Gene Drive research programs for other nations’ militaries and
corporations.
And
even if we could trust the integrity of the researchers, and could assume there will
be no carelessness, and even if we believe extreme caution is actually being taken,
an accidental release of a GDO (Gene Drive Organism) could be disastrous for an
ecosystem, requiring possible quarantines, and emergency measures. There is no
antidote. Gene Drives are designed to self-perpetuate. There is no stopping it.
(A
new type of gene drive has been developed within recent months that addresses
the possibility of organisms developing a resistance to a gene drive, further
assuring that it will not, with this new 'Allelic
Gene Drive', developed to defend against natural resistance adaptation, so even developed
natural resistance can’t stop it, once released.)
Part 5: Where are we on Regulation of Gene Editing and
Gene Drives?
In
view of the potential risks presented by Gene Drives, dozens of NGOs, Non-Governmental
(Environmental) Organizations, attended the Second International Summit on
Human Gene Editing during the UN’s CBD, Convention for Biological Diversity COP 14 (14th Biennial Conference of Parties) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. They came to this conference determined to convince the nations of the world to adopt a moratorium, a ban, on all field testing (releasing into the environment) of Gene Drive Organisms (GDO’s), until further research and technology could be developed, that could lessen the risks to species, ecosystems and the environment. But just as they had encountered in 2016, at the First International Summit, most nations were steadfast against any limits to their research and development of Gene Editing and Gene Drives, bolstered by scientists, and organizations, like Target Malaria, funded by Bill Gates and the Gates foundation, (a big proponent of Gene Editing, Gene Drives, GMO’s, and of Biotechnology).
Human Gene Editing during the UN’s CBD, Convention for Biological Diversity COP 14 (14th Biennial Conference of Parties) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. They came to this conference determined to convince the nations of the world to adopt a moratorium, a ban, on all field testing (releasing into the environment) of Gene Drive Organisms (GDO’s), until further research and technology could be developed, that could lessen the risks to species, ecosystems and the environment. But just as they had encountered in 2016, at the First International Summit, most nations were steadfast against any limits to their research and development of Gene Editing and Gene Drives, bolstered by scientists, and organizations, like Target Malaria, funded by Bill Gates and the Gates foundation, (a big proponent of Gene Editing, Gene Drives, GMO’s, and of Biotechnology).
For
any solution to be adopted by the CBD, this UN organization, the member nations would
have to reach consensus, and in the meeting of 2018, although no ban or
moratorium on the release of Gene Drives was reached, they were able to reach
consensus on language, that included requiring an environmental assessment, and
prior consent of the indigenous populations, before Gene Drives were to be
released.
So
even though the environmentalists and the nations seeking it, didn’t get their
moratorium, which they felt so strongly was so necessary, at least they got
some language that might preclude the release and field testing of some gene
drives.
But,
the end result of the November 2018 meeting was that there were still no
international regulation, or international protocols, or any regulations, on the
release of gene drives, or on gene editing in general.
It
is very doubtful that consensus, for a moratorium, or even for some limits, or
for any regulation, could be reached at the upcoming COP 15, in November 2020,
unless some disaster, such as a disastrous accidental release, for an example, happens,
to help the nations reach such consensus. Otherwise, the US, with its DARPA Bio-weapon gene drive program, and any other
nations’ military programs, secret or not, and with all the medical, agricultural, and
industrial programs experimenting with Gene drives, will never agree to impose
any limits or regulations on themselves, for fear that other nations might get
a ‘leg up’.
And
even if we are lucky enough to have the nations of the world agree to some
regulation at the upcoming meeting, unless they can come up with some means of
enforcement, such regulation will be moot. The ‘free-for-all’ will go on. Until
the world agrees to some regulation, with some kind of enforcement, the only
thing that separates us from disaster is the caution and ethics of the
scientists, researchers, and corporate businessmen, and I’m not sure we should
bet on that.
Part 6: Will Gene Edited Foods Be Labeled,
and Where Are We on GMO Labeling?
The
answer to that first question, whether Gene Edited Foods, Crops, Fish, or Meat,
will be labeled as such, is a flat “No”. Sonny Perdue, Trump’s Secretary of
Agriculture, made that clear on March 28, 2018, when he ruled that the
Department of Agriculture does not consider Gene Edited Foods, Crops, or Livestock,
to be GMO's. The argument he makes is, that as long as a food is not ‘transgenic’,
formed by inserting the DNA of foreign species, such food is no more different than any mutation through natural breeding, and so, since such food is
“substantially equivalent”, an argument the United States has made for years for
the older GMO’s, there is no need for it to be labeled, or for US customers to
be notified in any way, that they are eating gene edited foods.
Coordinated
through the White House Office of Science and Technology, and their Coordinated
Framework on Biotechnology, the FDA and the EPA, along with a USDA, have all
come to this same conclusion. The US government has no intention of labeling
gene edited foods
On
the “other side of the pond”, on July 25, 2018, the highest EU Court, the
European Court of Justice, ruled that products of CRISPR Cas9 Gene Editing, of RNAi,
and of Gene Drives are, unequivocally, GMO’s. This aligns with the Non-GMO Project’s
and most food activist organizations’ definitions. And, since GMO labeling (labeled
‘OGM’ - in France, and in many other nations) is already, for years, the law in
the EU, the people of the EU will not have to wait years for the development of
a labeling program and its execution for their Right To Know what’s GMO. Their
citizens will have the benefit of having all gene edited food labeled ‘GMO’ (or
‘OGM’) with no delay.
Back
in the USA, this is far from the case. Despite decades of activism for GMO
labeling, Big Chem (Monsanto, as we call it for short), Big Ag and Big Food
(GMA, etc.), and conservative politicians, beholden to them for taking big
donations from these big corporations, fought back against Americans’ Right to
Know, spending millions in their lobbying efforts to fight any legislation to
label GMO’s, employing every dirty trick in the book, and to this moment, (and,
might I add, for several years to come) they have been very successful. There
is still no mandatory labeling of GMO’s on American store shelves, despite
politicians’ promises of transparency
Meanwhile,
the anti-GMO movement has been largely successful in changing public opinion
against GMO’s. Thanks to so many fine organizations involved with this effort,
the word is getting out that GMO’s are not good for our health. We see TV
commercials advertising more and more food products as ‘GMO-free’, and even ads selling dog food or
cat food with no GMO’s, which must be very important to some pet owners, but many
of these same pet owners seem happy to feed their own children GMO’s, (based on
the many voters against bills to label GMO’s). But, overall, even the word, ‘GMO’, has been become very unpopular, and as info gets out on the dangers of
herbicides and pesticides, involved with growing GMO and conventionally grown
foods, its popularity is waning further.
By
contrast, the words “Organic” and “Natural” have very much gained popularity,
whether or not the product, labeled as such, is actually organic, or natural. The
FDA has very few limits on what claims can be printed on a package (like 'NO TRANSFAT', while Hydrogenated Fats are clearly listed in the ingredients).
The market in the United States for Non-GMO Project verified organic products keeps growing exponentially, by the billions, and that food really is non-GMO, and Organic, which means that the product was grown without pesticides or herbicides, and without synthetic fertilizers, and is not GMO, or gene edited, and none of its ingredients are derived from GMO’s, whether or not it was 'highly processed', and whether or not the DNA is still intact. That should be the real definition of which foods should be labeled as 'GMO' or 'Organic'. The markets for non-GMO produce and products are booming, despite the fact, in America, that we still are being denied the clearly labeled Right To Know whether our food has been genetically altered.
The market in the United States for Non-GMO Project verified organic products keeps growing exponentially, by the billions, and that food really is non-GMO, and Organic, which means that the product was grown without pesticides or herbicides, and without synthetic fertilizers, and is not GMO, or gene edited, and none of its ingredients are derived from GMO’s, whether or not it was 'highly processed', and whether or not the DNA is still intact. That should be the real definition of which foods should be labeled as 'GMO' or 'Organic'. The markets for non-GMO produce and products are booming, despite the fact, in America, that we still are being denied the clearly labeled Right To Know whether our food has been genetically altered.
And
we all see rich people, like, most famously, the Obama’s, who prefer organic
vegetables in their gardens, and won’t feed their kids GMO’s, but many of the
same rich politicians, stars, and millionaires, while avoiding and not feeding
their own children GMO’s, have no problem promoting the GMO construct.
On
July 29, 2016, public opinion for labeling GMO’s was so high, at around 90%,
when Obama signed the bipartisan, Republican and Democrat, Bill that would
finally enact GMO Labeling. This law was called the National Bioengineered Food
Disclosure Law, but all of us who opposed this law, which was supported and
developed for the Congress by Big Chem, Big Ag, and Big Food, whose lobbyists
influenced this law as a delay and disinformation tactic. From its inception,
we called it the DARK Act, for Denying Americans the Right to Know. After years
of desperate protest for GMO labeling, we begged our Congresspeople and our
Senators to vote against its passage, and when it passed both chambers, we
begged President Obama to veto it. Besides throwing out Vermont’s, and three or four other
States’ new labeling laws, that had already been enacted, this federal law made
it illegal for any State to enhance the Right to Know, for their State’s own
citizens.
The
Dark Act gave the Department of Agriculture two years, when it was signed into
law, on July 29, 2016, to come up with a labeling plan, and they ran the clock
out, as best they could, and submitted a plan for a comment period on May 4,
2018. During this period, many advocated for GMO’s to be labeled GMO’s, but the
Department of Agriculture, lobbied heavily by the big corporations, refused to
use the terminology, “GMO”, or “genetically modified”, or “genetically
engineered”, because they expressed concern that such labeling would harm
sales, realizing just how unpopular GMO’s had become. (It was even discussed
that food manufacturers could just print a QR code on the package, as was
provided for in the 2016 law, that would only be legible on a smart phone, though
many don’t own one, and most consumers, who do own one, probably wouldn’t use one to read it.)
The
USDA finally insisted upon using the term “Biologically Engineered” in the
labeling, because, to them, that sounded a lot less scary than “Genetically
Engineered” or “GMO”, worse yet. So, at first, they decided on just labeling
the products with a small b and a small e, and a smiley face.
During the comment period, there were so many complaints that the public would not understand that “be”, standing for ‘biologically engineered’, meant GMO, so they changed it to this new symbol below, with a green plant in a field of blue skies and yellow sun, (with black ink or single color printing optional), making it look more like it might be an organic label, despite the word, “bioengineered”.
During the same comment period, before the final rule went into effect on December 21, 2018, they decided to not require any labeling on products with only “highly processed” bio-engineering derived ingredients, like Beet Sugar from 100% GMO Beets, which they claim is so highly processed, that there is no genetic material, or DNA, remaining, or detectable. So, they’ve decided not to label at least half the products on the grocery shelf that should be labeled. They kindly offered this “Bioengineering Derived” label below, for those companies that voluntarily want to use it. Again, the use of this label is not mandatory. Highly processed products derived from GMO’s are not required to be labeled, at all.
The
final rule and labeling standards were decided by the USDA on December 21, 2018,
giving food companies time until January 1, 2020 to begin this labeling
transition, which was to be completed, and applied to all items on the store
shelf, by January 1, 2022. This gave them 5 and a half years from the date the
law, making GMO labeling mandatory, was signed by Obama, to satisfy the 90% positive
public opinion of Republican and Democrat constituents, at that time, for GMO
labeling. The DARK Act, as we call it now, and have been calling it since the
day it was introduced, accomplished their goal of Denying Americans the Right
to Know, our citizens, with this delay of 5 and a half years, and even when it will
come into effect, the labeling will not include mandatory labeling of foods
with “highly processed” GMO ingredients, roughly half or more of the products
in the stores that should be labeled.
But the cruelest
insult, of all, to the American people, is that when the “Bioengineered” labels
actually start appearing on the shelves of American stores, somewhere between
January, 2020, and January, 2022, the current rage in “bioengineering”, CRISPR Cas9
Gene Edited foods derived from Gene Edited Crops and Gene Edited Livestock, the
US government has decided, will not bear the new “BIOENGINEERED” label. In fact,
they won’t be labeled at all, using the excuse, in the warped way they’ve
decided to understand the definition of GMO’s, as stated in the law Obama signed, that
GMO’s are “any food: a) that contains genetic material that has been modified
through in vitro recombinant DNA techniques, and b) for which the modification
would not otherwise be observed through conventional breeding, or not found in
nature.”
Their warped
understanding of this definition, written into this law by industry hacks, is
that since Gene Edited food is not “transgenic”, since there is no foreign
species DNA inserted, and so, unless there is, it’s not GMO, according to them,
and since DNA mutations sometimes happen naturally, that this BIOENGINEERED labeling
does not apply, at all, to Gene Edited Organisms, and has nothing to do with
them.
But, even the worst,
most brazen bureaucrat or politician, on the take, or , may I say, on the
corporate lobby bandwagon, must admit the irony of finally labeling GMO’s with
a BIOENGINEERED label, under the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Law, while,
perhaps the most advanced bioengineered Gene Edited products, as were covered
in this article, are not to be labeled at all. Again, this shows the world the
US to be a joke.
And the US’s
aberrant definition of what is GMO, in our proclivity for supporting the GMO industry,
may harm the United States and the Farm Segment of the US Economy, including
the much too few Small Farmers remaining, and keep them from billions of
dollars in potential food exports, because many countries, due to our nation's definitions and practices on GMO’s, might find our food exports unacceptable.
Unless we change the
US position on GMO’s, and change our reluctance to join the world labeling
protocols and definitions, we will continue to harm the United States, in potential
export trade, and harm our farmers in limiting their markets, with more and
more food importing nations’ distrust of our food products.
Part 7: Where Are We Now on
GMO’s?
GMO’s are looking, more and more, like a failed experiment. We covered (briefly) the History of Agriculture, and the birth and
development of Modern Agriculture and of
GMO’s, in our 2013 article, Messing with Mother Nature, (and we will not be
repeating this essential,for your understanding, background information in
this new report), where we warned the world, based on the title of a UN
publication, that the experiment with GMO’s and conventionally grown mono crops
would fail, and that the world had better “Wake Up Before It Is Too Late”, to
feed an ever-growing population in a world of Climate Change. We encourage you
to read Messing with Mother Nature.
Since we wrote that report,
there have been many developments that show the experiment with GMO’s to be
ever closer to disaster. First of all, Roundup, the whole foundation of the GMO
scam, just as we predicted in that 2013 article, doesn’t work anymore. Super-weeds
have developed with a resistance to Roundup (Glyphosate), and so Monsanto (now
merged with Bayer, and their like, Dow/DuPont and ChemChina/Syngenta, in an
ever more consolidated Big Chem/Big Seed world, which we call, for the purpose
of abbreviation, Monsanto) has had to develop second and third generation GMO
seeds, that are resistant to not only Roundup (Glyphosate), but also to other,
even more toxic and carcinogenic herbicides, like Dicamba (that drifts, and has
killed hundreds of thousands of acres of other crops unintentionally,) and 2,4-D,
a toxic agent that is related to Agent Orange defoliant. And recently the USDA
approved GMO soy seeds by Dow/DuPont that are resistant to a chemical called, Isoxaflutone
(IFT), which is listed by the EPA as a probable human carcinogen, possibly more
dangerous than Glyphosate. So the variety and tonnage of herbicides, being
poured and accumulating on our fields, and running down our rivers and streams, (due to the massive deluges and erosion of Climate Change) keeps growing year after year. (Mind you, herbicides, like Roundup, are also
used on non-GMO crops, like wheat and oats, in order to dry them shortly before
harvest, for quicker and more economical harvesting.)
Also, just as
predicted, Super-bugs have developed with a resistance to the pesticides being
used, so that more volume and more varieties of toxic pesticides are being applied
each year, harming the safety of our food supply, and of our water supply, the
health of humans, pets, and wildlife, and of the of the environment, because every one
of these chemicals is toxic to all of the above. All vertebrates, including birds and
fish and reptiles, have endocrine systems, much like ours, which the homeostasis, the balance of hormones, is thrown off by these pesticides and herbicides, with all
kinds of bad health effects, up to and including cancer.
The Climate and the
Health of our Environment is also being
harmed by conventional farming techniques, with applications of huge tonnage of
synthetic fertilizers on wide expanses of GMO and other conventional mono
crops, causing 80% of the world’s N2O (Nitrous Oxide, a greenhouse gas 400
times worse in warming potential, ton for ton, than CO2) and causing huge
amounts of CO2 emissions, from the application of Lime, and just from the Tillage of the Soil, and depositing nitrates in our water (blue-baby-syndrome) and
causing Toxic Algae Blooms and Dead Zones in lakes, and on our ocean shores.
Another fact is that
40% of agricultural production in the US is discarded, and much of it rots in
garbage dumps, emitting huge quantities of Methane, a greenhouse gas 100 times
worse in warming potential, ton for ton, than CO2.
One of the greatest
reasons that growing GMO’s is not ever going to be Sustainable is the rapid
decline of Bees, Bats, and Butterflies, harmed by Glyphosate, and other
Herbicides and Neonicotinoids and other Pesticides. Without Pollinators, most
items in the produce aisle will eventually disappear.
There is more
evidence that GMO’s are unhealthy for humans, pets, and livestock to consume,, and
they offer less nutrition, that they harm the lining of the stomach, causing
perforated bowel syndrome, etc., and causing increased allergy sensitivity.
But even if you
want to believe the disinformation, that the GMO and Big Chem and Big Food
industries spout, that GMO foods are “substantially equivalent”, and are equally
nutritious, tasty, and healthy as Organic foods, all should be wary of the ever
greater concentrations and varieties of dangerous agrochemicals, herbicides and
pesticides, that they are consuming every day, and feeding to their children and
loved ones, along with the food. (Many of us, we are told, have more than 20
different herbicides and pesticides, not to mention other EDC’s, in our bodies,
in our tissues, in our organs, in our blood.) And even if these herbicides and pesticides
were tested individually (which most have not adequately been), and were deemed
safe (at whichever levels), no testing has ever been done on the effects of the
vast combinations of pesticides and herbicides in our bodies, and what these
combinations might do to our health.
Also, be aware,
these chemicals migrate into the water supply, your and your children’s water
supply. We are drinking Roundup, (among others), that is so ubiquitous, it can
even be detected in the rain.
But, of all the
reasons enumerated here so far, showing the fact that the GMO business is a
failed experiment, perhaps the biggest threat to the continued well-being of
the GMO industry is now playing out in the civil courts, where Bayer/Monsanto
is facing close to 15,000 lawsuits, from people who have been afflicted with a
deadly cancer, called Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Bayer/Monsanto is losing these court
battles big time. The first few cases, tried before a jury, yielded billions of
dollars in ‘compensatory’ and ‘punitive’ damages that were awarded to the plaintiffs.
Thanks to the
efforts of Carrie Gillam, author of ‘Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer,Cancer, and the Corruption of Science’, and a contributor to the Guardian and
to the Huffington Post, and Stacy Malkan, director of US Right to
Know, a nonprofit investigative group, focused on the food industry, and who
was a co-founder of the campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and an author or of an award
winning book on that subject, we were brought into the courtroom each day, and
we were able to view all the evidence, and how it played out before the jury,
in a blow-by-blow description, day after day during these trials, all the twists
and turns. It was fascinating to watch how the attorneys of Baum Hedlund Law
firm did a masterful job of representing these plaintiffs, and proved in these
trials, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that their dying cancer patient plaintiffs
were harmed by Roundup. And the ‘punitive’ damages, that were awarded, arose
from the fact that Monsanto executives have long had ample evidence that their prized
product was harmful, and they continued to mislead the public and the farmers to
believe that it was safe.
Though Bayer/Monsanto
is in the process of filing appeals for these awards, we also understand that there
are discussions, that have begun, on a possible global settlement with the 15,000
cases still pending, possibly as large as $40 billion, so large that it could
spell the end for Bayer, a company that before its merger with Monsanto, had
been a very profitable German company.
Might I add, the
liability attorneys at the Big Chem/Big Seed companies, (other than Bayer/Monsanto,
and that is Dow/DuPont, ChemChina/Syngenta, and BASF), that all sell GMO seeds
and the corresponding equally toxic and carcinogenic agrochemicals, also have
reason for concern.
Meanwhile, it’s
absurd how on the same television program, here in the States, we see
advertisements for liability attorneys looking for clients with Non-Hodgkin
Lymphoma type cancers from exposure to Roundup, and then moments later, we see
an ad for Bayer/Monsanto promoting the use of Roundup, “trusted for 40 years”,
“safe” and “effective”. One has to laugh, to keep from crying.
The fact is that
Big Chem/Big Seed has been colluding with Big Ag and Big Food and with our
Government regulatory agencies to perpetuate the fraud of GMO’s and Industrial Agriculture, which is poisoning America. Extractive Industrial Agriculture with
high inputs of synthetic fertilizers and of toxic, carcinogenic chemicals, that
accumulate, and degrade our Soil, and poison our Food, and run into our rivers
and streams, and our lakes and reservoirs, and eventually our oceans, is not,
and never will be, 'sustainable'. If we really want to feed the world, and not
cause mass starvation, and not destroy our precious Soil and Environment and
Climate, we had better wake up right away, and quickly make fundamental
changes in Agriculture.
The bottom-line
solution to GMO’s and the problems presented by conventional agriculture, a
failed paradigm, is that growing food Organically (Miracle Gro’s Performance Organics,
though it does include Compost, is anything but Organic.), and enabling more Small
Farmers to feed the world, would solve a myriad of problems, turning a currently
huge source of greenhouse gases into becoming a carbon sink, reducing
greenhouse gases, (that are causing the warming of the Climate), and reducing all
sorts of harm to our Soil, and to our Environment, while not polluting and
overusing (as does Big Ag) Water, and, best of all, providing us with Healthy Food.
The answer is Regenerative Organic Agriculture.
Part 8: Beyond GMO’s – Final
Thoughts
Based on the
obvious conclusions we reached, and which you may have perceived throughout this
report, that a precautionary approach to Gene Editing should be exercised, I’m
sure this report will be accused of being “anti-progress“, and, even, of being
“anti-science”.
We don’t agree with
either of these assessments. We believe the science clearly indicates the
possibility of unintended consequences from Gene Editing and of the dangers of
Gene Drives, and that a precautionary approach is warranted, and that if anyone
wants to avoid eating Gene Edited food products, or any GMO, they should be
informed, so they have the right and ability to do so.
A massive multi-million-dollar
Public Relations campaign, with virtually no pushback, has sold the public on
the potential positive contributions of Gene Editing. A particularly well
produced television advertisement by ‘America’s Biopharmaceutical Companies’,
touting the promises of Gene Editing, is playing widely, and is included in the first video section of this report, Part 12. How could anyone be against “curing cancer with
one’s own T cells”, or “making the blind see"?
So, they’ve got the
world in a position that anyone who advises caution will be accused of being
anti-progress and anti-science.
But we see the
science clearly indicating that the off-target effects of Gene Editing on Crops
and Livestock, for examples, might produce unexpected toxicity and
allergenicity, and the possible benefits are not worth the risk. We can be sure, due to the time frame of these
experiments in Gene Editing, (and that’s what they are, experiments) that there
will have been no long term, and barely any short-term, testing of these foods,
before these products go to market, and before the population is exposed, so that we,
the people, will become the test guinea pigs, to discover whether any ill
effects might develop.
Considering the
failed experiment of GMO’s, and of chemical and fertilizer intensive Big Ag,
that we just enumerated in part 7, and considering the risks of Gene Editing,
perhaps mankind would be better off not trying to dominate, to master, Nature, going
to the extremes of manipulating genes within DNA, but, instead, work in harmony
with Nature and Natural Genetics and Inheritance. Maybe we should leave DNA the
way the Creator (here, I’m asking my atheist friends’ indulgence) designed it,
with its ability to evolve naturally.
We believe in Seed Freedom, the ability to enable the common man or woman to grow food and provide
sustenance for his or her family and community, without paying for proprietary seeds and for royalties or licencing fees,, and we believe in the strength of Biodiversity. And, certainly,
Seed Freedom and Biodiversity are not consistent with Chemical Agriculture, or
with Gene Editing, or with any other form of GMO.
For decades,
American taxpayers have been subsidizing Agriculture and Farmers through the Farm
Bill, (recently reauthorized in 2018 by a bipartisan Congress and Senate), that
provides billions of dollars in Crop Subsidies and Crop Insurance to Farmers
(also Food Stamps for the Poor). It has been verified that much of these
taxpayer paid subsidies (crop insurance, etc.), these billions of dollars, are
being distributed to millionaire and billionaire farmers, who are perpetuating
the failed experiment of agriculture, enumerated in part 7, of mono crops and
GMO’s, and industrial sized climate emissions, and poisoning our Water with nitrates,
phosphates and with toxic Chemicals, and causing Algae Blooms and Dead Zones,
and poisoning (and depleting – erosion, salinization, and degradation) our
Soil, and poisoning and degrading our Food.
We have seen a report, that 245 millionaires, who live in cities, or in mansions on the beach, have
received Farm Bill payments for 32 years straight. We have also found in our
research that the top 1% of farmers, by size and farm income, received 27% of
the subsidies, averaging $1.7 million per farm. Meanwhile, the Small Farmer is
ignored, and left on their own to fend for themselves. This is wrong. (We have even heard of several
Congresspeople and Senators, who own farms, and who are recipients of Farm Bill
subsidies. Note: This is anecdotal – not fully researched yet).
(The bow-tied
Democratic US Congressman Earl Blumenauer, of Oregon, introduced legislation in
November 2017, called the Food and Farm Act, to rectify the inequities in the
distributions of funds from the Farm Bill, and to promote organic food
production, and many of the improvements encouraged here, and in our earlier
reports. Unfortunately, this Act was all but ignored, and the current Farm
Bill, with all its failings, was adopted by a bipartisan, Republican and
Democrat, Congress and Senate, and was signed into law by Trump in 2018, much
to Congressman Blumenauer’s and our chagrin. But the good news is, that the
legislation to rectify the situation has already been written. All we’ve got to
do is adopt it.)
If, instead of
subsidizing these millionaire and billionaire farmers, and thereby subsidizing
their environmentally damaging methods of farming, we were to take these
billions in funds to support thousands of small farmers, and to encourage and
assist new, young farmers. In doing so, we could transform Agriculture in this country
to ‘Organic’, and help fill the burgeoning demand for healthy, poison-free food in this country, and internationally, for Export. That change could
immeasurably improve our Economy.
A transformation to
Organic, (and to “No Till’ and the use of “Cover Crops”) could make Agriculture a net reducer
(or ‘Carbon Sink’) of CO2, instead of one of the larger sources, and by
replacing Compost for Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizers, this could reduce 80% of
the N2O (Nitrous Oxide) gas, a powerful greenhouse gas, 400 times worse for
warming, or Climate, ton for ton, than CO2. And, by composting Food Waste,
instead of burying it, this could reduce the CH4 (Methane) emitted from rotting
crops or food, (40% of food grown in America is wasted, along with its inputs, including billions of gallons of water), and Methane (which is 95% of what's in natural gas), is 100 times worse in
warming potential, ton for ton, than CO2. And by supporting Small Farmers and
Regenerative Organic Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture could assist
the production of abundant and poison free food, and that’s what it’s all
about.
Supporting and producing
GMO, or Gene Edited, mono crops is anathema to Biodiversity and to Sustainability.
And we, taxpayers, should not have to be subsidizing millionaire farmers, in a
system that denies us our Right to Know, what’s GMO, and when I say, 'GMO', that
includes 'Gene Edited Foods', for sure, just as the EU’s highest court has
determined, and their regulatory regime, Codex Alimentarius, already embraces. (It should be noted that we, taxpayers, in the US, and in every G20
Nation, should, also, not have to keep subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, to
the tune of billions of dollars per year, and the large banks must stop funding
the expansion of fossil fuels.)
We need a Green New
Deal, which would fundamentally change our approach to just about everything, to
address the Climate Crisis, and there can be no Green New Deal, without
addressing the way we grow our Food, for reasons of Health, of Climate, of
Environment, of Biodiversity, and for Justice and Equity.
And, if we must
allow Gene Edited foods to be produced and sold in this country, if we can’t
stop it, we, at very least, have to get these foods labeled as such, and allow
our citizens, who have as much a right to know and decide, as the citizens of
the EU, whether to buy or eat any GMO food, including of course, Gene Edited
foods.
Part 9: Message to our Readers
There’s something else
I’ve got to say, not going deeply into the Ethics of Gene Editing, which I’ve
hardly touched at all in this report, but a moral, right or wrong, view on
these subjects, I’ve got to, at least, bring up.
When Man is so
arrogant that he tries to play God, and to master Mother Nature, and actually,
in this case, tinker with DNA, the very essence of Mother Nature, don’t be
surprised if, like Frankenstein, he produces a monster. And, predictably,
Mother Nature will always fight back, but Man, nevertheless, tries to dominate.
If you study DNA,
and the genetic code (our introduction was in part 2 of this report), and you
realize how exquisitely complex and miraculous DNA is, and how it works, and
that it is the foundation of life on Earth, not just in Humans, but in Dogs, Cats,
Horses, Birds, Fish, Snakes, Worms, Insects, Crops, Plants, Trees, and in practically every living thing, exactly as that DNA was created by God (or, if you prefer, by Natural Evolution,
which many of us billions of people, that claim a religion, don’t find
inconsistent with Science), one can’t help but marvel at the elegance of the Science of DNA and Inheritance.
Instead of
tinkering and messing with Her, humans would be better off by harmonizing with
Mother Nature, and by taking advantage of Her wealth, the veritable cornucopia
of Biodiversity, plant and animal, as it
was bestowed to us, and to work to maintain and nurture Biodiversity, as
opposed to the current strategy of Industrialization, causing us the loss of
that precious Biodiversity.
In the words of Dr.
Vandana Shiva, the mother of the Seed Freedom and the Regenerative Organic
Agriculture movement, in a recent article regarding the ‘Impossible Burger’ and
‘Fake Food’:
“Food is not a commodity, it is not “stuff” put together
mechanically and artificially in labs and factories. Food is life. Food holds
the contributions of all beings that make the food web, and it holds the
potential of maintaining, and Food regenerating, the web of life. Food also holds
the potential for health and disease, depending on how it was grown and
processed. Food is therefore the living currency of the web of life.
“As an ancient Upanishad reminds us, “Everything is food,
everything is something else’s food. “
“Good Food and Real Food are the basis of health .
“Bad food, industrial food, fake food is the basis of disease.
“Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine”. In Ayurveda,
India’s ancient science of life, food is called “Sarvausadha”, the medicine
that cures all disease.
“Industrial food systems
have reduced food to a commodity, to “stuff” that can then be constituted in
the lab. In the process, both the planet’s health and our health has been nearly
destroyed.”
“Biodiversity-intensive
and poison-free agriculture, on the other hand, produces more nutrition per
acre while rejuvenating the planet. It shows the path to “Zero Hunger” in times
of climate change.”
Now, back to this
report. We will not discuss and make comments in this section about the Documents and Videos included, as we’ve done in previous reports. Instead, we may add
some comments under the listings, but will keep them in [brackets] to clearly
distinguish them from the names and information.
Also, this time, we will have two Documents sections and two Video sections, for ‘Pro Gene Editing’ Documents and Videos, and for ‘Primary’ Documents and Videos.
Even if you agree
with our point of view, and would recommend that caution be exercised on gene editing,
it is important for you to, at least, check out the Pro Gene Editing hype, the
Documents and the Videos, so you can see how they portray Gene Editing and Gene
Drives as the way to go. You’ll run into many, even friends, family members, and associates, that will be so convinced, that they will argue that any hesitation
about Gene Editing is “anti-progress” and “anti-science”. So it’s important for you to see how they’ve reached
that point of view, in order for you to respond to their ignorance.
The Impossible Burger, now being sold by many big name Fast Food (Junk Food) chains nationwide, and being promoted as being plant-based, and as such, so much more environmentally friendly and healthy, is a perfect example of this misguided understanding. People are so gullible. It’s up to us to educate, or, at least, counter their arguments on this subject, and to advocate the real urgency for taking real Climate Action, and a big part of that must be Agroecology, and the need for Real, not Fake, Food.
The Impossible Burger, now being sold by many big name Fast Food (Junk Food) chains nationwide, and being promoted as being plant-based, and as such, so much more environmentally friendly and healthy, is a perfect example of this misguided understanding. People are so gullible. It’s up to us to educate, or, at least, counter their arguments on this subject, and to advocate the real urgency for taking real Climate Action, and a big part of that must be Agroecology, and the need for Real, not Fake, Food.
A few more notes.
First, a note on Genetic Testing. Please be aware, though we don’t recommend
against it, the cheap $59, on sale,
genetic testing we see advertised, we’re sure, has its limits as far as
accuracy. We’ve already heard anecdotally about a woman who had a false
positive on a cheap home test for the dreaded BRCA breast cancer gene, and had
a preventative mastectomy. Regardless of whether the story is true, we’re
encouraging you to take such test results lightly, and to have them
confirmed professionally, before you start worrying. Also, that cheap home test
might actually detect only certain forms of the BRCA gene, so even if you have
a different form of that same gene, it may give you a false negative, while you
may still be living with the heightened risk of cancer. Our suggestion is to
not rely heavily on these cheap DNA tests, and if you find something that concerns you, to have it confirmed professionally.
Second, a note on
Exxon’s TV advertisements showing huge vats of Gene Edited Green Algae for Biofuel.
These TV ads bother me, because the testing they show in these ads is not in a
laboratory with containment protocols. It’s open-air testing, so that this gene
edited, possibly invasive, algae might easily escape into the surrounding
ecosystem, and might prove harmful. Plus, we don’t need that fuel, (nor do we
have the need for Ethanol in our gasoline, fueling the GMO business, and
harming our planet). Hopefully, someday, we’ve got to get beyond combustion
engines and stop burning fuel in our vehicles altogether.
Finally, we’ve
included an Infographic from the FDA on the new version, indicating the changes
from the old version, of the Nutrition Facts Label, at the end, after the two
documents and two video sections. We believe the new Nutrition Facts Label to be as
lacking as the old, insofar as we wrote in an earlier article, about the inexcusable
fraud of being able to say that something that clogs human veins and arteries
like Transfat, to this day, present in food, which,
even food listed in the ingredients to contain Hydrogenated Oil, which is the same as Transfat, and then,
depending on the portion size, the Nutrition Facts Label under trans fats says 0 grams legally according to the regulations, in order to make the food look ‘healthy’ and to
deceive the public. And the food manufacturer is allowed to emblazon across the package, "ZERO TRANSFATS", while the serving might contain .4 grams of Transfat and there could be 8 servings in the package, and so a whole package feeds the consumer 3.2 grams of deadly Transfat, while the package labeling indicates there are none. The FDA, as well as the EPA and the USDA, populated by industry hacks, especially under
Trump, has always colluded with Industry (also through Clinton, Bush, Obama and in earlier years)..
Nothing has changed
since we wrote that article, when it comes to that homicidal fraud perpetrated
by allowing less than .5 grams in a serving to be listed as 0 grams, making unhealthy
processed food look healthier, for an example, than something with saturated
fat, which the body needs for the walls of every one of your 37.2 trillion
cells. Otherwise, if we eat that Transfat they’re hiding in our food, and the
body uses it to make cell walls, it’s still as bad for the health of each cell, brain cells, bone cells, blood cells, etc., as it was described
in that article, despite the occasional news blurbs making us think that
Transfat has already been banned. Let me assure you, it has not been.
We thank all of our
US and international readers (from over 150 nations). We really do
appreciate you taking the time to read our articles. And we extra-appreciate
when you refer them to friends. That’s where our readers can really
make a difference. If we can make people aware , we’ll have more of a
chance to get that Green New Deal, to address the Climate Crisis, and that must
also include Regenerative Organic Agriculture in the way we grow our Food, which must be pursued as
aggressively as the need to stop burning Fossil Fuels, in order to feed the
world ‘Real’, not ‘Fake Food’ in this time of Climate Emergency and Toxic
Emergency, in which we find ourselves.
We love getting feedback. Our email
address is: woodstockearthblog@gmail.com, or if you prefer Twitter, you
can use: @Mikethemikeman1. For the sake of our people, our families, and Mother
Earth, we encourage all of you, as charter members of Woodstock Earth, to
spread the word and help get these stories out.
Part 10: Pro Gene Editing
Documents
Part 11: Primary Documents
5. CRISPR causes greater genetic damage than previously thought – GMWatch
6. CRISPR Gene Editing Produces Unwanted DNA deletions - DNA-cutting enzyme used for genetic modification can create large deletions and shuffle genes. – Nature
7. New Studies Show Gene Editing Causes Widespread Mutations-Friends of Earth Australia
8. Gene-Edited Farm Animals Are Coming. Will We Eat Them? - Cutting-edge lab techniques could improve animal breeding, but society may not be ready – Washington Post
9. Scientists: US Military Program [DARPA] Could Be Seen as Bioweapon – AP
10.SyntheticGene Drives: Genetic Engineering Goes Wild – Briefing for Convention for Biological Diversity (PDF)
12. How the Non-GMO Project Is Adapting to a Gene-Edited World – Forbes
Part 12: Pro Gene Editing
Videos
America’s Biopharmaceutical Cos
Protecting Lifesaving Breakthroughs
CRISPR-Cas9 Explained:
The Biggest Revolution in Gene Editing
With Jennifer Doudna, Co-inventor
How CRISPR lets us edit our DNA
A TED Event with Co-inventor, Jennifer Doudna
Part 13: Primary Videos
Gene Editing:
Last Week
Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Playing God: Should Anyone Be Allowed
To Edit Their DNA Using CRISPR Technology?
Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the
Corruption of Science – with author, Carey Gillam
Nutrition Facts Infographic:
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