New Pig Research Shows GMOs Harmful

Genetically engineered food once again has been shown to harm animals. New research published June 11th (Judy A. Carman, Howard R. Vlieger, Larry J. Ver Steeg, Verlyn E. Sneller, Garth W. Robinson, Catherine A. Clinch-Jones, Julie I. Haynes, John W. Edwards (2013). A long-term toxicology study on pigs fed a combined genetically modified (GM) soy and  GM maize diet. Journal of Organic Systems 8 (1): 38-54. Open access full http://www.organic-systems.org/journal/81/8106.pdf )

This research shows severe gastrointestinal and uterine damage to pigs when fed a combination of GE foods. A review with photos can be found at this link.

Update on GMO Canola in Willamette Valley

Many of us have been working hard to stop the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture (ODA) from expanding the Canola boundaries  out through most of the Willamette Valley. There are various reasons it concerns us. 

1) 94% of canola is genetically modified. 
2) It will cross pollinate and contaminate many of our mustard family crops 
3) It will become a weedy pest as it moves all through the Willamette Valley 
4) It will bring in more mustard family pests for neighboring farmers to deal with.

One particular person has made it her current full time job. She has created a website that is very useful. At her website you can find everything you need to know. Here is a letter from Kim and various links from her website. I have slightly abbreviated my friend's letter and made a few notes of my own. 

THREE LINKS

“What’s the Issue with Canola?”

 “Canola/Rapeseed FAQs”
  “What’s the Science on Canola?”
Click here to help (Takes little of your time.)

Did you know the expansion of canola can harm the farmers that grow your food crops, as well as your ability to garden and save seed?  Have you given your testimony yet? 
 

Right now, our community is faced with a serious risk to our food and seed farmers.  The Willamette Valley is one of the last five great seed-growing regions in the world and has been a protected zone since the 1990's.  The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) is trying to allow canola to be grown on thousands of acres in the Willamette Valley.  This goes directly against the scientific research done by OSU, where the findings clearly demonstrated that canola would be harmful to our vegetable seed, clover seed, fresh market and organic farmers.

An unprecedented coalition of farmers is against this change. They have told the ODA of the economic harms they face, and supported expensive legal action that stopped planting of canola this fall.  However, we're not in the clear yet.  Our farmers need your help.

On Thursday, the ODA announced that they were extending the public comment period to November 2nd.   At the September public hearing, only 7 people testified pro-canola, versus 64 against. It appears the ODA is extending the time to gain more testimonies in favor of canola. (We can use it in our favor to send more testimonies against the canola expansion.)
 
Organic farmers experience a double risk from the expansion of canola acreage.  The ODA has provided no restriction on GM canola and cannot restrict it by law. (Let's change that law.) Please help us preserve organic agriculture and make sure your voice is heard.  Please forward this letter to your friends and family, and help educate them about this serious risk to Oregon farmers and agriculture.  Your farmer thanks you!

Click here for our website with a ready-made testimony form:(Choose consumer testimony, or farmer testimony, as appropriate.)

More information on how growing canola is harmful to our farmers:

Our farmers thank you for your help.

Eat well,

Kim Goodwin
Oregonians for Farm & Food Rights
www.farmandfoodrights.org

 

Review of Recent GMO Research: Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize

I took the copy of "Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize" to bed with me last night for some late night reading. It got me so wound up that I almost got out of bed to write this. However, I pulled in the reins and waited until today. If you want to read the original research, and I suggest you do, click here for the link at the bottom of their page. (they have great photos here is why I send you here first) you can also go directly to the article HERE.

The article is from Food and Chemical Toxicology, September 19, 2012, Gilles-Eric Seralini, Emile Clair, Robin Mesnage, Steeve Gress, Nicolas Defarge, Mauela Malatesta, Didier Hennequin, Joel Spirousce Vendomois.

This is such great research for the following reasons:

• It was undertaken by individuals without conflicts of interest. 

• It was long-term. This was a life-long rat feeding study. The study was over a two year period.  Much of the GE(GMO, genetically engineered) research has been criticized for being so short term that it misses any chronic health problems that would occur from ingesting GE food. This study gives us a good idea of what happens when human beings eat GE food long-term.

• They used the actual formulation of Roundup that is used in agricultural use. Most research takes the active ingredient out and studies only the active ingredient called glyphosate. Glyphosate (active ingredient in Roundup) is only able to penetrate target plant organisms with the help of adjuvants that are included in various formulations on the market. So these researchers used the actual Roundup formulation available on the market with adjuvants so it would mimic what people actually get in their food or what has been found in tap water.

The Corn

The type of GE maize researched was MON-00603-6, also known as NK603. This is a Roundup-tolerant variety of corn owned by Monsanto. They compared it with a control group that was fed the nearest isogenic, non-transgenic corn. (So basically they compared Monsantos genetically engineered corn to a non-genetically altered corn that has similar dna structure.) Remember,  Monsanto claims their corn is theoretically genetically identical to this isogenic corn and they claim they should not have to study long term effects of their GE corn for this reason. Thank goodness, these researchers did not agree with Monsanto.

What Specifically Was Studied - How did they grow the corn to be studied?

They studied both the NK603 grown in a field by itself with no Roundup applied as well as the NK603 which had Roundup applied to it. They were careful to grow the "Normal corn", the NK603 and the NK603 with Roundup applied in similar fields and conditions. They also studied the effect of Roundup itself.

How It Was Done

There were 200 rats. 100 males and 100 females. Each were broken up in to ten different groups, each with ten rats. 

The rats were fed balanced diets that had either 11%, 22% or 33% of GE maize, cultivated either with or without Roundup or 33% of the non-transgenic control line. They also gave three groups of rats the control diet (normal maize) with the addition of Roundup in their drinking water. One of the Roundup water groups had 1.1 x 10(-8%) an amount that is a level found regularly in some tap waters (according to them). The second Roundup water group had .09% which is half of the US MRL(maximum residue limit) of glyphosate in some GE feeds and .5% which is half of the minimal agricultural working dilution.

What Body Samples Were Examined

Blood samples looking at hormones, minerals, blood sugar, indicators of various organ diseases, and inflammatory conditions. They were very thorough.  The blood samples were taken often enough to get a good picture of the animals health over the two year period. They also took urine samples at various time. At the end of the rats lives they took weights and  samples of most of their organs.  It was very thorough!

Organ retrieval: The idea was to follow these rats throughout their entire life-span and examine their organs at the end of  two years. Some animals became so sick they had to sacrifice them during the research and examine them at that time. This was done according to ethical rules. At the end of the two year study, any animals who had not died due to the research induced pathologies or due to old age were sacrificed. They then collected most of their organs  for weight, tumors and microscopy examination.

Results & Observations of Researchers 

Remember as you read this that this was a two year experiment and most lab rats live about two years. So this was an experiment following these animals through what a normal life-span would be for them.

They have a great summary table (Table 2) that you should take a look at. It gives you a quick comparison of the most frequent health effects caused by the GE corn and GE corn with Roundup and Roundup in water. The interesting thing that you notice right off is that indeed the GE corn and GE corn/Roundup and Roundup water groups always have more health problems than the controls. 

The largest palpable growths were found to be non-regressive tumors. Tumors were found to increase in size and number over the course of the experiment. The tumors were usually 2-3 times more likely in the treated groups than controls. This was in both females and males.

In females the largest tumors were in total 5 times more frequent than in males after the 2 year period. 93% of them were mammary (breast) tumors. (Hmmm, anyone thinking about the increase of breast cancer in human females?) At the end of the two years 50-80% of the treated female animals had developed tumors while only 30% of the controls were affected. The Roundup treatment groups showed the greatest rates of tumor incidence with 80% of the animals affected. These mammary tumors are generally known to be mostly estrogen-dependent.   (Roundup has been shown to disrupt aromatase which synthesizes estrogens as well as interfere with estrogen and androgen receptors in cells.)

The second most affected organ in the females was the pituitary gland. They were affected 2 times more than the controls for most treatments. (The pituitary gland is very important as it regulates many hormonal systems of the body.)

The big palpable tumors in the males (in their kidneys and skin mostly) were by the end of the two years on average seen twice as often as the controls.

 The most affected organs in the male rats were the liver, digestive tract and kidneys. Liver congestion and both visible and microscopic areas of dead tissue were 2.5-5.5 times more frequent in all the treatment groups than the control groups.

In females the androgen/estrogen balance in serum was modified by the GM maize and Roundup treatments. (Again they have a great table you should veiw.)  In the males at the highest Roundup treatment they had almost double the usual amount of estrogen. Any of you guys eating GE food that are using Cialis or some other errectile enhancer? Does this finally make you think of throwing your GE food in the trash? (Now I am thinking about all the farmers reporting poor fertility in their animals eating GE food. Plus, have you noticed the huge increase in fertility clinics. Infertility in humans is skyrocketing.)

The interesting thing to note is that the groups with smaller amounts of GE corn, GE corn/Roundup and Roundup water  caused as much damage as the groups who consumed or drank larger amounts. When you see this table, you realize people who are ingesting as much as 11% of their diet as GE food could be causing themselves as much organ damage and growing as many tumors as those  eating 33% of their diet as GE food. How scarey is that? People who think it is okay to eat a little bit of GE food better rethink that idea.

Discussion

They pointed out some things in their discussion that I thought were noteworthy. 

• As I just mentioned similar pathological effects were seen to happen from lowest to highest doses. This suggests some sort of threshold effect. More about this below.

• The first large tumors in the rats occurred around 4-7 months in both males and females (This would relate to 13-22 years of age in a human eating GE food and Roundup sprayed food since birth. So far we have not gotten this far along in our human large scale experiment. Are you still a human rat or have you thrown out your GE food?) This proves that the standard 3 month studies are ridiculous as they won't catch much.

• Roundup all by itself is hazardous, even in the smallest doses they used. (Remember they said this dose is found in some tap water? Plus the larger dose  (their medium amount) that was given to the rats corresponds to the amount of Roundup that is acceptable levels of this pesticide as a residue on GE food.  Eeeek!!!

• You might start thinking that Roundup itself is the problem and not the GE food. However, the groups fed the NK603 corn without Roundup application still had the enhanced tumor activity and increased mortality rates.

• It is interesting to note that these researchers measured caffeic and ferulic acids in the GE diets. These  were significantly reduced. They hypothesized that this may lower the protective effects against carcinogenesis and mammalian tumors. Ferulic acid may also modulate estrogen receptors or the estrogenic pathway in the cells of mammals.  They thought this might explain why the effects of NK603 and Roundup are not additive and reach a threshold level. They think that both of them may cause hormonal disturbances in the same biochemical and physiological pathway.

Another thing regarding caffeic and ferulic acid is they have been shown to promote detoxification of embryonic kidney cells after Roundup contamination in prior research by Ganier in 2011. The decreased amount of them in the GE diet could account partially or wholly for the kidney damage.

• The disturbances found in the male's livers were indicative of long term chronic intoxication. The researchers thought the females were less effected by the liver intoxication due to their being better adapted to estrogen metabolism. They also mention that liver enzymes have been demonstrated to be sex-specific in their expression patterns. Deeper analysis at an ultrastructural level did show defects in cell nuclear structure that were similar in both sexes.

• They also point out that prior research had already shown glyphosate consumption in water above authorized limits can provoke liver and kidney failure. This study simply proves that lower levels of glyphosate (Roundup), below those set as safety limits can cause severe hormone-dependent breast, kidney and liver disturbances. In addition, GM NK603 maize can cause similar pathologies that may be linked to abnormal or unbalanced phenolic acids, metabolites, or related compounds. However, they do not exclude the possibility of other mutagenic or metabolic effects. (Okay, if you have not ran to your pantry and thrown out your GE food yet, what are you waiting for?)

• This makes me really glad that I and my animals eat organic food. Hope any of you reading this who are currently eating conventional food, will go throw out all your products with corn, soy, cotton seed oil, and canola oil from your pantry immediately and consider eating only organic in the future.

I take my hat off to the researchers Gilles Eric Seralini, Emile Calir, Robin Mesnage, Steeve Gress, Nicolas Defarge, Manuela Malatesta, Didier Hnnequin, Joel Spiroux de Vendomois. The planet is indebted to you and those like you who are spending countless hours working for the better of planetary life. You and others like you are in my prayers. You are going to need all the support you can get as you just took on a monster. Let us all support you in any way we can.

Boycott These Organic Companies

Some large companies are selling you organic food while at the same time they are funding opposition to California's proposition 37 which is the GMO labeling initiative.  Do you want to support companies that would keep you from knowing if you are eating GMO's or not? Please join us in a massive boycott against these companies. They include Kellogg's (Kashi, Bear Naked, Morningstar Farms); General Mills (Muir Glen, Cascadian Farm, Larabar); Dean Foods (Horizon, Silk, White Wave); Smucker's (R.W. Knudsen, Santa Cruz Organic); Coca-Cola (Honest Tea, Odwalla); Safeway ("O" Organics); Kraft (Boca Burgers and Back to Nature); Con-Agra (Orville Redenbacher's Organic, Hunt's Organic, Lightlife); and PepsiCo (Naked Juice, Tostito's Organic, Tropicana Organic), Mars (Seeds of Change).

California's Prop 37 will require labels on genetically engineered foods, and will also ban the fraudulent (and highly profitable) industry practice of marketing GMO-tainted foods as "natural."  

The  Biotech and Big Food corporations have dumped $25 million dollars into defeating Prop 37. The "Yes on 37" campaign has raised only $3 million so far, in part because most of the wealthy organic elite (Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, Stonyfield, etc.) are still sitting on the sidelines. Tell these companies they need to chip in NOW!

Please see my prior blog explaining how if the Nov. 6th GMO right-to-know ballot initiative (Prop 37), currently supported by the overwhelming majority of voters, passes in California - the eighth largest economy in the world - it will have the same impact across the United States as a national law.

To see the details on how much money these companies have contributed as well as additional information on the companies go to the "Friends & Enemies of Your Right to Know"

How Your Senator Voted on GMO Labeling

Below is a list of the various senators and how they voted June 21st, 2012 on the Agricultural Reform Act amendment to label genetically engineered food. Check to see how yours voted. Note you can look them up by their name of by state.  If they voted yes, let them know you appreciate it. If they voted no, tell them you want them to support labeling of GMO food next time. Once you have found how your senator voted, just click here to contact your senator. 

 
    XML U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 112^th Congress - 2^nd Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On the Amendment (Sanders Amdt. No. 2310 )
Vote Number:	161	Vote Date:	June 21, 2012, 12:36 PM
Required For Majority:	3/5	Vote Result:	Amendment Rejected
Amendment Number:	S.Amdt. 2310 to S. 3240 (Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012)
Statement of Purpose:	To permit States to require that any food, beverage, or other edible product offered for sale have a label on indicating that the food, beverage, or other edible product contains a genetically engineered ingredient.

Vote Counts:	YEAs	26
	NAYs	73
	Not Voting	1

Vote Summary

By Senator Name

By Vote Position

By Home State

Alphabetical by Senator Name

Akaka (D-HI), Yea Alexander (R-TN), Nay Ayotte (R-NH), Nay Barrasso (R-WY), Nay Baucus (D-MT), Nay Begich (D-AK), Yea Bennet (D-CO), Yea Bingaman (D-NM), Nay Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea Blunt (R-MO), Nay Boozman (R-AR), Nay Boxer (D-CA), Yea Brown (D-OH), Nay Brown (R-MA), Nay Burr (R-NC), Nay Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Cardin (D-MD), Yea Carper (D-DE), Nay Casey (D-PA), Nay Chambliss (R-GA), Nay Coats (R-IN), Nay Coburn (R-OK), Nay Cochran (R-MS), Nay Collins (R-ME), Nay Conrad (D-ND), Nay Coons (D-DE), Nay Corker (R-TN), Nay Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Crapo (R-ID), Nay DeMint (R-SC), Nay Durbin (D-IL), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Franken (D-MN), Nay

Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay Graham (R-SC), Nay Grassley (R-IA), Nay Hagan (D-NC), Nay Harkin (D-IA), Nay Hatch (R-UT), Nay Heller (R-NV), Nay Hoeven (R-ND), Nay Hutchison (R-TX), Nay Inhofe (R-OK), Nay Inouye (D-HI), Yea Isakson (R-GA), Nay Johanns (R-NE), Nay Johnson (D-SD), Yea Johnson (R-WI), Nay Kerry (D-MA), Yea Kirk (R-IL), Not Voting Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay Kohl (D-WI), Nay Kyl (R-AZ), Nay Landrieu (D-LA), Nay Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea Leahy (D-VT), Yea Lee (R-UT), Nay Levin (D-MI), Nay Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Nay Manchin (D-WV), Yea McCain (R-AZ), Nay McCaskill (D-MO), Nay McConnell (R-KY), Nay Menendez (D-NJ), Nay Merkley (D-OR), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea

Moran (R-KS), Nay Murkowski (R-AK), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Nay Nelson (D-NE), Nay Paul (R-KY), Nay Portman (R-OH), Nay Pryor (D-AR), Nay Reed (D-RI), Yea Reid (D-NV), Nay Risch (R-ID), Nay Roberts (R-KS), Nay Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea Rubio (R-FL), Nay Sanders (I-VT), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Nay Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shaheen (D-NH), Nay Shelby (R-AL), Nay Snowe (R-ME), Nay Stabenow (D-MI), Nay Tester (D-MT), Yea Thune (R-SD), Nay Toomey (R-PA), Nay Udall (D-CO), Nay Udall (D-NM), Yea Vitter (R-LA), Nay Warner (D-VA), Nay Webb (D-VA), Nay Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea Wicker (R-MS), Nay Wyden (D-OR), Yea

Vote Summary

By Senator Name

By Vote Position

By Home State

Grouped By Vote Position

YEAs ---26
Akaka (D-HI) Begich (D-AK) Bennet (D-CO) Blumenthal (D-CT) Boxer (D-CA) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Feinstein (D-CA) Inouye (D-HI)	Johnson (D-SD) Kerry (D-MA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Lieberman (ID-CT) Manchin (D-WV) Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD) Murkowski (R-AK)	Murray (D-WA) Reed (D-RI) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Tester (D-MT) Udall (D-NM) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---73
Alexander (R-TN) Ayotte (R-NH) Barrasso (R-WY) Baucus (D-MT) Bingaman (D-NM) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Brown (D-OH) Brown (R-MA) Burr (R-NC) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Chambliss (R-GA) Coats (R-IN) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Coons (D-DE) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Durbin (D-IL) Enzi (R-WY)	Franken (D-MN) Gillibrand (D-NY) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Hagan (D-NC) Harkin (D-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Heller (R-NV) Hoeven (R-ND) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Johnson (R-WI) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Lee (R-UT) Levin (D-MI) Lugar (R-IN) McCain (R-AZ) McCaskill (D-MO) McConnell (R-KY) Menendez (D-NJ)	Moran (R-KS) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Paul (R-KY) Portman (R-OH) Pryor (D-AR) Reid (D-NV) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Rubio (R-FL) Schumer (D-NY) Sessions (R-AL) Shaheen (D-NH) Shelby (R-AL) Snowe (R-ME) Stabenow (D-MI) Thune (R-SD) Toomey (R-PA) Udall (D-CO) Vitter (R-LA) Warner (D-VA) Webb (D-VA) Wicker (R-MS)

Not Voting - 1
Kirk (R-IL)

Vote Summary

By Senator Name

By Vote Position

By Home State

Grouped by Home State

Alabama:	Sessions (R-AL), Nay	Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska:	Begich (D-AK), Yea	Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Arizona:	Kyl (R-AZ), Nay	McCain (R-AZ), Nay
Arkansas:	Boozman (R-AR), Nay	Pryor (D-AR), Nay
California:	Boxer (D-CA), Yea	Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado:	Bennet (D-CO), Yea	Udall (D-CO), Nay
Connecticut:	Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea	Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Delaware:	Carper (D-DE), Nay	Coons (D-DE), Nay
Florida:	Nelson (D-FL), Nay	Rubio (R-FL), Nay
Georgia:	Chambliss (R-GA), Nay	Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Hawaii:	Akaka (D-HI), Yea	Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Idaho:	Crapo (R-ID), Nay	Risch (R-ID), Nay
Illinois:	Durbin (D-IL), Nay	Kirk (R-IL), Not Voting
Indiana:	Coats (R-IN), Nay	Lugar (R-IN), Nay
Iowa:	Grassley (R-IA), Nay	Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Kansas:	Moran (R-KS), Nay	Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky:	McConnell (R-KY), Nay	Paul (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana:	Landrieu (D-LA), Nay	Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Maine:	Collins (R-ME), Nay	Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Maryland:	Cardin (D-MD), Yea	Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts:	Brown (R-MA), Nay	Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Michigan:	Levin (D-MI), Nay	Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota:	Franken (D-MN), Nay	Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Mississippi:	Cochran (R-MS), Nay	Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Missouri:	Blunt (R-MO), Nay	McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
Montana:	Baucus (D-MT), Nay	Tester (D-MT), Yea
Nebraska:	Johanns (R-NE), Nay	Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Nevada:	Heller (R-NV), Nay	Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire:	Ayotte (R-NH), Nay	Shaheen (D-NH), Nay
New Jersey:	Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea	Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
New Mexico:	Bingaman (D-NM), Nay	Udall (D-NM), Yea
New York:	Gillibrand (D-NY), Nay	Schumer (D-NY), Nay
North Carolina:	Burr (R-NC), Nay	Hagan (D-NC), Nay
North Dakota:	Conrad (D-ND), Nay	Hoeven (R-ND), Nay
Ohio:	Brown (D-OH), Nay	Portman (R-OH), Nay
Oklahoma:	Coburn (R-OK), Nay	Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Oregon:	Merkley (D-OR), Yea	Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Pennsylvania:	Casey (D-PA), Nay	Toomey (R-PA), Nay
Rhode Island:	Reed (D-RI), Yea	Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina:	DeMint (R-SC), Nay	Graham (R-SC), Nay
South Dakota:	Johnson (D-SD), Yea	Thune (R-SD), Nay
Tennessee:	Alexander (R-TN), Nay	Corker (R-TN), Nay
Texas:	Cornyn (R-TX), Nay	Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Utah:	Hatch (R-UT), Nay	Lee (R-UT), Nay
Vermont:	Leahy (D-VT), Yea	Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Virginia:	Warner (D-VA), Nay	Webb (D-VA), Nay
Washington:	Cantwell (D-WA), Yea	Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia:	Manchin (D-WV), Yea	Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin:	Johnson (R-WI), Nay	Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Wyoming:	Barrasso (R-WY), Nay	Enzi (R-WY), Nay

When GMO Food is Sold as Organic

Organic farmers whose field is contaminated with GE seed or pollen can still sell their product as organic that year.

Organic farmers are not allowed to purchase and plant genetically engineered seed. However, if their crops are contaminated by a neighbor who is growing genetically engineered food or they are sold GE (genetically engineered) seed they thought was organic, the farmer can still sell their crop as organic (even if they find out it has been contaminated) as long as they can prove they did not knowingly plant genetically engineered seed. 

Farmers have no recourse if their organic food is contaminated by GE fields.

So far farmers who have had their conventional or organic crops contaminated by GE plants have not been able to win court cases in the United States. Therefore, they are being protected by the organic labeling companies by at least allowing them to sell their contaminated food as organic. However, this does not protect the consumer. Something needs to be changed here. The farmer needs to be able to have laws that support organic farming and protect organic farmers from trespass of GE pollen on their crops.

What can we do to stop the continual growth of GE crops.  

We could stop it dead in its tracks if we simply refuse to purchase it. We can demand our food stores only purchase non GE food. There is easy to use testing for determining if a plant or seed is GE or not. Farmers, grocers and the public can purchase it. Tell all your family and friends to demand GE free food.

Which foods should always be tested?

All corn,  soy, canola, and cotton seed oil should be tested now. Even the organic ones should be tested as it is now thought that at least 3-4% of all organic corn, soy, and canola is contaminated.  The testing should be at the farmers level or the distributors level. However, anyone can be testing. Start telling your grocery store that you want your Corn (corn oil, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, corn meal) Soy (soy protein, soy lecithin, soy oil, soy sauce, soy isolates) Canola (canola oil) Cotton (cottonseed oil to all be tested for genetically engineered genes).  Tell them you don't want to buy products that are not tested if they carry these ingredients.

Non GMO Project

There is also a third party verification from the Non GMO Project that manufacturers can use to verify their food is safe.

Dairy Food Contamination
For farmers who grow alfalfa, sell alfalfa or grow the seed, they should also be testing. If you purchase alfalfa for your dairy animals, test it or make sure the grower, distributor has tested it before buying the alfalfa. For the person who eats dairy foods, find out if the manufacturer of your dairy foods gets milk from farms that feed non-GMO alfalfa to their dairy cows/goats.

Support labeling for genetically modified foods. 

Start labeling laws in your state for genetically modified foods. Some counties have started making their county an area where you can't grow genetically engineered food. You simply get the county to pass an ordinance and it is so. Go to GMO Free Jackson County to see how they are doing it.  That is easier than going state wide.  Passing laws to make it illegal to grow GE food in your area protects the family gardens from being contaminated in your area as well as the farms.