Obama administration quietly approves Monsanto genetically engineered corn for sale in US

[Liberal_in_LA]

Monsanto genetically engineered corn approved for sale in U.S.
+
Washington - Monsanto has been given the go-ahead to sell its genetically engineered, drought-resistant corn after the Obama administration quietly approved the variety, with the announcement being made during December’s Christmas break.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved the controversial product after Monsanto submitted a petition for its approval in 2009. Monsanto maintains 40 percent of North American crop losses occur as a result of sub-optimal moisture.

In a news release, Monsanto states the GE corn, MON 87460, carries the drought-tolerant trait to help maintain yield potential during drought stress.

“Our drought system is designed to help farmers mitigate the risk of yield loss when experiencing drought stress, primarily in areas of annual drought stress,” said Hobart Beeghly, Monsanto’s U.S. product management lead, in the company statement. “This spring farmers in the Western Great Plains will have an opportunity to see how the system performs on their farm through on-farm trials.”
Development of Monsanto’s drought-tolerant trait was part of a joint effort with Germany’s chemical giant, BASF.
In a determination (pdf) of Monsanto’s GE corn, the USDA states the

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/317358#ixzz1irHY61jO

[T S Justly]

1. Fucker.

Excuse me.

[Kolesar]

3. What a compelling argument

Thanks for sharing it with DU

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Your counterpoint also, compelling as a wet noodle....

At least I know what the other poster thinks.....more than I can say for the 'snark and remark' method.

[pintobean]

12. Hmmm

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. What compelling argument can there be for approving the sale of GMO crops in the US?

[Kolesar]

16. Need to wave T S Justly back to this thread and ask him who the "Fucker" is?

President Obama?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

40. President Obama is the fucker for --

appointing Tom "I Heart Monsanto" Vilsack and letting him push forward with Ag policies that dangerous to the American people and our planet.

Clear enough for you?

[Quantess]

41. Good business for Monsanto!

That's the only reason there is, isn't it?

[paulk]

19. watch this

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-world-according-to-monsanto/

"Food Inc" is also worth watching

and I'll be more direct in my post

when I say "fucker", I'm referring to Obama and his administration in this matter.

[Kolesar]

20. So T S Justly calls President Obama a fucker and you call President Obama a fucker

I have seen food inc and I am well aware of what Monsanto does. However, the lame writers of this thread are unable to express how that means President Obama is a "fucker". We get just a tiny number of words from a few bored, half informed slackers. I would guess that most of them don't know the material and didn't even read the link in the original post.

Have a nice day, sweetie

[paulk]

23. blah, blah

go insult somebody else

sweetie

[Honeycombe8]

24. Ditto. I get tired of reading four letter responses....

because the poster doesn't know any other words. They'll grow up and learn to post decent responses, but in the meantime, others are subjected to their four letter one word responses that don't mean anything other than a burp.

[stockholmer]

2. Yet another stab in the back for the US.When will this White House stop being such a disappointment?

Every time I try to feel positive about this administration (hat tip for trying to downsize the military), they turn around an sign off on some assinine, harmful policy.

It is maddening.

I can't wait till he signs off on the Keystone XL pipeline!




The World According to Monsanto

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4867493254318912106#

[dameocrat67]

5. When we stop trying to attract so called sane republicans like

John Huntsman who would support this completely along with jobs outsourcing.

[SixthSense]

4. and the risks are...?

something we'll find out when it goes catastrophically wrong?

Shouldn't preserving natural genomes be part of preserving the environment?

[dmosh42]

6. Nobody will know what foods they are added to, but the payoffs are in, so forget about it!

[sad sally]

31. Bigger and better pests that Monsanto will kill with more powerful seed injections.

The Environmental Protection Agency has recently found that Monsanto’s genetically modified corn, which was created to kill insects, may be losing its effectiveness against rootworms. The genetically modified corn has been engineered with Bacillus thuringiensis (BT), an insecticide harnessing an insect-killing protein.

The EPA found that the resistant rootworms, which are evolving to resist the insecticide, are currently found Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska. After the EPA evaluated documented cases of severe crop damage as well as reports from entomologists, the EPA stated “Monsanto’s program for monitoring suspected cases of resistance is ‘inadequate’”.

This of course is not the first time that genetically modified crops have led to insect populations that are resistant to the biopesticides contained in the crops. As this problem of resistance continues to occur, the amount of insecticides needed to be used soars. As insects adapt to the genetically modified Bt, the biopesticide becomes absolutely worthless, igniting a vicious cycle of further genetic alteration and increased pesticide/herbicide use.

In a similar vein of resistance, it has recently been reported that Monsanto’s best-selling herbicide Roundup has created a new category of resistant superweeds. These resistant weeds currently cover over 4.5 million hectares in the United States alone, though experts estimate the world-wide land coverage to have reached at least 120 million hectares by 2010.

http://naturalsociety.com/epa-finds-monsantos-gmo-corn-ineffective-creating-resistant-rootworms/?du

[SixthSense]

33. now I know why Monsanto bought Blackwater/Xe

it's to kill the mutated creatures that will eventually arise from their genomic terrorism

[sunwyn]

7. This is very disturbing. Many years ago, before I was diagnosed with diverticulitis,

I had a severe attack of pain in my stomach. After several tests and such, the doctor likened the attack to the corn I had eaten. Found out later it was Monsanto's BT corn. I guess some folks have very bad reation to the stuff. Can't imagine this is any better

[Kdillard]

14. Very disturbing.

[sad sally]

32. Is there a connection between Monsanto's influence in food and drugs?

Monsanto was established in 1901 in St. Louis, MO. How exactly has Monsanto spent its 100+ years in business and what are some of the more notable facets of its world influence? Let's find out.

Founder John Francis Queeny spent 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry before the inception of Monsanto. While still an employee of Meyer Brothers Drug Company, he depleted his entire savings and borrowed from a Chicago soft drink supplier to form a new company to produce products for the food and pharmaceutical industry. The new company was named for his wife, whose maiden name was Olga Monsanto. Monsanto was born on November 29, 1901

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/023094.html#ixzz1itay21um?du

[MadHound]

9. More stupidity,

Kiss the monarch and other butterflies goodbye.

[Dover]

10. I assumed they already did this along with soy... both foods I won't touch unless organically grown.

This issue needs to be part of public debate and vote, not something decided in secret!

I have stopped being surprised at the extreme right tilt of our corpo-government.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. GM corn and soy are already ubiquitous and found both in fresh and processed food.

Everything from the produce department of your supermarket to the HFCS in sodas. The OK from the Ag Dept is just the icing on the cake.

Because it's here and in our food supply, the only thing you can do is eat organic until Monsanto loosens the definition enough to include GM products. Forget about the prospect of "warning labels" on GM foods.

[NC_Nurse]

13. Monsanto continues to steamroll all opponents. You have to be rich and pwoerful to get what you

want these days - a multinational corp or a billionaire. But there's no "class" in 'merica, dontcha know?

[grillo7]

17. Obama hasn't done well with Ag policy

Given the chance to finally regulate antibiotics given to livestock, which is the biggest contributor to creating antibiotic resistant bacteria like MRSA, his administration opted for "self-regulation" by the industry.

[bvar22]

26. Obama's Ag Policy is consistent with his BIG MONEY policies across the board.

Capitulate to BIG Corporations & the Top 1%.

President Obama even installed a Monsanto Shill as the head of Agriculture in the White House.
Monsanto sits at the head of the Table in the Obama White House.
[font size=5]
The DLC New Team
[/font]
(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254886&kaid=86&subid=85

Google "Vilsack, Monsanto"


Vilsack was 2nd only to Rahm in Ties to Big Evil on the Obama cabinet,
though he didn't get near the attention while Rahm was CoS.



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
[font size=5 color=green][center]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[qb]

18. Fuck that. In spite of my limited food budget, I will be avoiding non-organic corn products.

[roody]

21. California will have a GMO labelling

ballot measure in Nov.

http://www.labelgmos.org/

[Robb]

22. Can someone explain to me in a straightforward manner

...what distinguishes genetically engineered, drought-resistant corn from hybrid drought-resistant corn?

Hybrid corn changed the country in the 1930s. Did so much better in the drought of 1936 than open-pollinated corn it pretty much seems to have sold itself. I understand the process of interbreeding corn varieties and resulting hybrids; what is the departure from that to "genetically engineered"?

[unapatriciated]

37. Hope this helps to clarify the difference.

Hybrid - "Plant breeders cross breed compatible types of plants in an effort to create a plant with the best features of both parents. These are called hybrids and many of our modern plants are the results of these crosses."

GMO's - "Hybrids should not be confused with genetically modified organisms or (GMOs) which, according to About.com’s Biotech Guide, can be any plant, animal or microorganism which have been genetically altered using molecular genetics techniques such as gene cloning and protein engineering. Plants like corn that has the pesticide Bt engineered into its genetic makeup to make it resistant to certain pests are GMO crops. Bt is a natural pesticide, but it would never naturally find its way into corn seed."

http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetable1/f/Heirlooms.htm

[Honeycombe8]

25. I wonder if this will affect small farmers? nt

[bvar22]

27. What did Candidate Obama say about GM Crops during Campaign 2008?

Labeling GMO Foods & Country of Origin

Oops.




You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their promises.
[font size=5 color=green][center]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[Robb]

28. I've always wanted an excuse

... to link to the National Pork Produducers Council website.

http://www.porknetwork.com/pork/pork-exec/Whats-on-Tap-for-2012-136695033.html?ref=033

A WTO dispute-settlement panel ruled in November that the U.S. Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling law violates U.S. WTO trade obligations. Canada and Mexico had brought the case forward to WTO.

MCOOL was implemented as part of the 2002 Farm Bill and requires retailers to notify customers about the country of origin of several commodities, including pork.

NPPC, which opposed the original MCOOL law when it was debated in Congress, and other agricultural organizations will be working with lawmakers to craft a legislative fix so that it is WTO-compliant. The United States must comply with the WTO ruling; otherwise it risks retaliation from and a trade war with Canada and Mexico.

[IDemo]

29. See "Bill Hicks" + "presidential agenda"

[jwirr]

30. Does the bill hold any provisions for labeling it when it is sold?

[IcyPeas]

34. So much for Michelle Obama's organic garden

at the White House.

_______________________
"While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern....

...Whether there would be a White House garden had become more than a matter of landscaping. The question had taken on political and environmental symbolism, with the Obamas lobbied for months by advocates who believe that growing more food locally, and organically, can lead to more healthful eating and reduce reliance on huge industrial farms that use more oil for transportation and chemicals for fertilizer.
_______________________________

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/dining/20garden.html

[Romulox]

38. + a gazillion. nt

[Quantess]

35. I didn't know it already wasn't.

[Marrah_G]

36. Monsanto is just one of the reason I have dropped corn and corn products

I only occasionally have corn from the local organic farm. How long until Monsanto owns all the corn in the country?

[Romulox]

39. Don't worry guys--they'll fix the situation later, with some "side agreements"--maybe even

renegotiate the whole thing!