All posts by Peter Terezakis

Health

U.S. Approves Genetically Modified Alfalfa

The genetically modified crop — developed by Monsanto and Forage Genetics, an alfalfa seed company that is owned by the Land O’Lakes farming and dairy cooperative — contains a gene that makes the plant resistant to the herbicide Roundup. That allows farmers to spray the chemical to kill weeds without hurting the crop.

Alfalfa is grown mostly to make hay fed to dairy cows and horses. More than 20 million acres are grown in the United States; it is the nation’s fourth-largest crop by acreage, behind corn, soybeans and wheat, with a value of about $8 billion. About 1 percent of alfalfa is organic.

Health

GM C.E.O. Buys Organic

These seeds grow crops that kill insects, thereby taking out a piece of the food chain that effects everything from birds to mammals to fish. At the same time, the increased use of chemicals like “Roundup” sterilize the soil and wash into creeks, stream, rivers and the ocean. (This is what is causing the dead zone in the gulf of Mexico.)

You may be saying “O.K., so GM seeds are bad, but what can we do? We have to grow more food, right?”

Well yes and no. Monsanto would have us believe that there is no alternative. But lets point out a few facts that they don’t want you to think about.

Health

Surrender to Monsanto

Whole Food’s Dirty Little Secret: Most of the So-Called “Natural” Processed Foods and Animal Products They Sell Are Contaminated with GMOs

The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM’s $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called “natural” processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs. We and our allies have tested their so-called “natural” products (no doubt WFM’s lab has too) containing non-organic corn and soy, and guess what: they’re all contaminated with GMOs, in contrast to their certified organic products, which are basically free of GMOs, or else contain barely detectable trace amounts.

Approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather are