Michael Gove, Britain’s environment secretary, indicates that food made from genetically modified organisms will continue to be banned in the United Kingdom after Britain leaves the European Union. The US is expected to push for more GM-based foods to be sold in Europe.

The U.S. is putting Britian under intense political pressure drop the ban on GM foods after Brexit. In twenty years European Union scientists have deemed 40 GMO crops safe; but only a GM version of maize is grown, (grown in Spain for animal feed).

Mr Gove was asked by The Telegraph if GM food is more likely to be sold in the UK after Brexit, and if he would eat “chlorine-washed chicken,” which the US wants to export to the UK. He replied: “No and yes,” but then hastily, unsuccessfully, he attempted to cover for his admission, saying “but probably in whichever order you prefer”.

Earlier this month the US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (Trump appointee) said that food regulations are among several “landmines” that may impede negotiations with the new trade deal. He said complying with EU food standards on GMOs and chlorine-washed chicken is problematic with trade negotiations. Mr Ross said that restrictions imposed by the EU were “really not science-based”.

We’re huge trading partners with each other and our economies are in many ways more similar to each other than either of us is to most of Europe.”

Recommended:

• Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods
• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet
• How to Make the Healthiest Smoothies – 4 Recipes
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Sources:

• GM Crops Will Continue Banned Britain Brexit Says Michael Gove – Telegraph

Monsanto Co says it will give cash back to U.S. farmers who purchase a controversial weed killer, XtendiMax with VaporGrip, a dicamba-based herbicide. The herbicide has been linked to widespread crop damage. Monsanto is offering the cash incentive even as regulators in several U.S. states are deciding on restrictions for its use. Federal and state regulators are requiring training for farmers and limiting when and how the product can be used. Some farmers are saying the restrictions make the chemical too costly and inconvenient to apply, but Monsanto believes the incentive will help push past the products many issues and concerns. Monsanto could refund farmers more than half of the sticker price of the product.

Of course, Monsanto says XtendiMax is perfectly safe when applied properly. BASF SE and DowDuPont also sell dicamba-based herbicides.

Related: Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods

We believe cash-back incentives for using XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology better enable growers to use a management system that represents the next level of weed control.” – Ryan Rubischko, Monsanto product manager.

Monsanto is facing increasing government oversight lately:

On Monday, Missouri said it would ban sprayings of XtendiMax and DowDuPont’s product, called FeXapan, in 10 counties after June 1, 2018, and statewide after July 15, 2018. Last month, the state imposed the same restrictions on BASF’s dicamba herbicide, Engenia. North Dakota said it planned to prohibit the use of dicamba herbicides after June 30, 2018, and when temperatures top 85 degrees Fahrenheit in a bid to prevent the chemical from drifting away from where it is sprayed. Arkansas is close to prohibiting dicamba sprayings after April 15, 2018, the tightest limits yet, while Minnesota is also considering restrictions. The states are taking action after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandated special training for dicamba users for 2018 and required farmers to keep records proving they were complying with label instructions.” – Reuters

Related Reading:

• Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases
• Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
• How to Detoxify and Heal the Lymphatic System

Up to 400 Midwest grocery stores started selling pre-sliced packages of the “Arctic Apple”. The company marketing the apples won’t say which stores are selling them and they won’t label the apples “GMO” because according to Intrexon’s CEO:

We didn’t want to put ‘GMO’ and a skull and crossbones on the package.”

Arctic apples have been genetically engineered not to brown. They are devoid of the enzyme that causes apples to oxidize when the flesh comes in contact with air. Retailers, restaurants, and other foodservice sectors have expressed interest in using the GMO apples. Expect to see them in hospitals, restaurants, schools, vending machines, and anywhere you may see presliced apples.

Right now three new genetically engineered, non-browning apples have been approved: Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and recently the addition of the Fuji. Gala apples are next. Only Goldens and Granny trees have been in the ground long enough to produce fruit in commercial quantities by next fall.

At this time we’ve been told that the product is sold as a 10-ounce bag of sliced Golden Delicious apples, sold by Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Inc. You may be able to spot the apples upon seeing their trademarked name the package labels. The Arctic Apple® or Arctic Golden Apple is a registered trademark of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Intrexon.

How to Avoid The GMO Apples

One could scan the bag’s QR code with a smartphone. Avoid anything sold by Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Intrexon, and anything called an “Arctic Apple. Avoid any apples that have already been sliced open. Pre-sliced apples weren’t a good idea even before the GMOs hit the shelves. Pretty soon, buying organic may be the only way to avoid GMO apples, as they eventually may contaminate other crops, and even that may become problematic.

We recommend buying produce and bulk foods predominantly, get to know your farmer’s markets and local farmers, grow your own food, and put the kind of scrutiny and care into what goes inside your body as we all should.

1. Buy organic
2. Do not buy any apples labeled “Arctic”
3. Avoid pre-sliced apples

Recommended Reading:

• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet
• Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseasee

Farming, environmental, and consumer groups have delivered a petition with over a million signatures to the Department of Justice asking them to block the merger between German pharmaceutical company Bayer and agricultural giant Monsanto. The petition was delivered days ahead of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on technology in agriculture and data-driven farming. The petition is in addition to two recent reports showing the damaging impact of the merger on both farmers and consumers.

The first report from is Consumer Federation of America, “Mega-Mergers in the U.S. Seed and Agrochemical Sector the Political Economy of Tight Oligopolies on Steroids and the Squeeze on Farmers and Consumers,” and examines the Bayer Monsanto merger as an oliogopoly and discusses how having only select companies in charge will effect our food system. The second report is from Friends of the Earth, SumOfUs and the Open Markets Institute and entitled “Bayer-Monsanto Merger: Big Data, Big Agriculture, Big Problems.” It looks at the implications of the Bayer Monsanto merger on competition and farmer choice, especially in the area of data-driven farming.

Bayer and Monsanto’s toxic mega-merger is a danger to our planet and everyone living on it. Over 1 million Americans have called on the Department of Justice to protect our farmers and families from the consolidation of corporate power. Bayer and Monsanto’s merger is a direct threat to the future of people and our environment. The Justice Department must put on the breaks and stop this merger.” – Erich Pica, President Friends of the Earth

Consumers are concerned and worry that this could become a damaging monopoly.

If the Bayer-Monsanto merger is approved, the new company would be the world’s largest vegetable seed company, world’s largest cottonseed company, world’s largest manufacturer and seller of herbicides, the world’s largest owner of intellectual property/patents for herbicide tolerant traits. Should the merger move forward, 77 percent of the corn seed in America would be controlled by two companies, Bayer-Monsanto and Dow-DuPont. – OCM

Recommended Reading:

• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet
• How to Make the Healthiest Smoothies – 4 Recipes
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is no longer planning to test samples of corn syrup for glyphosate residue. Plans to test for the herbicide were coordinated between the USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency and scheduled to begin in April of this year.

The cancellation of this program is good news for Monsanto. The company is currently embroiled in litigation, with plaintiffs in the case alleging that Roundup caused non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The extent of the EPA’s involvement in the lawsuit is not known, although the federal judge presiding over the case has indicated he is likely to subpoena the chair of the EPA’s Cancer Assessment Review Committee. Regardless of the lawsuit, the decision by the USDA to drop scheduled glyphosate testing is disheartening and further erodes their food integrity credibility.

Agencies in Disarray

The USDA’s failure to properly test for glyphosate residue is baffling. The agency’s reasons for not testing for the world’s most used pesticide center around that process being too expensive and inefficient. If that argument sounds familiar, that’s because it echoes Monsanto’s own thoughts on glyphosate tests. The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t necessarily agree. Last year they set in motion a testing program that found glyphosate in every sample of honey tested. Launched in February, it was indefinitely suspended by November.

When Demand Isn’t Enough

Europe and Canada have glyphosate testing programs in place, with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency planning to release their findings in the near future. This is the most used herbicide in the world, with over 250 million pounds of it used in the U.S. every year. Any layperson looking for it has only to walk into the nearest supermarket, restaurant, or convenience store. But we don’t know for sure, although we definitely want to.

The entire motivation behind the FDA’s short-lived was public demand. The American public and the U.S Government Accountability Office both have issues with the current ill-advised and unsustainable system. For a brief, shining period the USDA got it. The taxpayer need and demand for testing didn’t change. So what did?

Related Reading:

• The Difference Between Heirlooms, Hybrids, and GMOs
• Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods
• Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones
• How to Start a Vegetable Garden – How to Grow Vegetables

Sources:

• USDA Drops Plan To Test For Monsanto Weed Killer In Food – Huffington Post
• FDA Finds Monsanto’s Weed Killer In U.S. Honey – Huffington Post
• CFIA Report to Weigh in on Glyphosate Debate – The Western Producer
• Lawsuit Alleges that Monsanto influenced the EPA’s Classification of Glyphosate – Organic Lifestyle Magazine

What’s the next phase in omega-3 fatty acid supplementation? If biotechnology and agricultural trading giants like Monsanto, Dow Chemical, and Cargill have anything to say about it, the future is soy and canola.

There is no way to meet the demand we currently have for fish oil.Peru, the world’s leader in fish oil and fish meal production, had a banner year in 2016, getting the highest recorded average price per metric ton. But those record numbers come at a time when production levels have declined 61% from the previous year. The production levels aren’t likely to improve either, as the United Nations reports 90% of the world’s fish are fully or partially overfished. Farm-raised fish are unlikely to be a good source of Omega-3s as they themselves are frequently fed other fish oils to boost their health. We are approaching the point where a big source for Omega-3s, wild-caught fish, will no longer be available, and farm raised fish currently require supplementation instead of providing it.

The Big Business Solution

The demand for fish oil products has created a 2.4 million dollar market, and many big companies have settled on grains as the solution to the problem left by dwindling fish oil supplies. One of the companies with ambitious plans in this area is Cargill, an agricultural trading company based in Minnesota. In a bid to create a fifth of current fish oil supplies, 159,000 metric tons, they’ve earmarked up to half a million acres of Montana farmland to grow their new strain of canola. Projected to be ready in 2020, the canola will contain long-chain omega-3 fatty acids from algae. Dow Chemicals has also jumped on the canola train, although they plan to grow their canola in Canada.

Monsanto, on the other hand, is sticking with what they know – soy. Soybeans are already a  source of ALA (alpha-linolenic acids), and the company’s plan is to develop a soybean specifically meant to be processed into a soy oil for baked goods and soup. Other companies are launching omega-3 products with algae. Archer Daniels Midland in Chicago, a commodities trading and food processing company, created an algae-based product for fish supplementation. TerraVia Holdings Ltd is another company focused on algae, using it to convert sugar into omega-3s.

A Little People Solution

Omega 3 fatty acids are essential to any healthy diet, but other options are out there? Quality fish and fish oil are hard to find and hard to justify from an environmental perspective. Many of the proposed big businesses solutions focus on GMO crops. Both of these options are problematic.

Getting omega-3s in your diet doesn’t have to be all about fish oil. Algae is a great source of omega-3s, and it’s important to get different colors. Green algae like spirulina and chlorella, are a source of EPA. Brown algae like wakame and hijiki are sources of DHA, a key nutrient in supporting a healthy brain. Other vegetable based sources of omega-3s include flax, chia, and nuts, especially walnuts. The acids are also in a number of vegetables like spinach, winter squash, and brussels sprouts, though the amount is much less than what is found in seaweeds, nuts, and seeds.

The World is Not Enough

This is not the only important part of the food chain disappearing. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, close to 75% of plant diversity has been lost. Six different livestock breeds are lost every month. Our gut bacteria has been slowly losing its variety, leaving us more open to disease. From a health viewpoint and an environmental viewpoint, now is the time to look for different, diverse foods. How long will it be before whole nutrients groups disappear from our world like so many plant varieties or members of our gut flora?

Related Reading:

• The Fascinating Bacteria in our Gut, and How it Affects Our Whole Lives
• Scientists Against GMOs – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research
• Understanding and Detoxifying Genetically Modified Foods
• Monsanto Company Profile
• Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Sources:

• Grain Traders Prepping Fish Oil Substitutes for Aquaculture, Health Fads – Reuters
• Record Short First Fishmeal and Fish Oil Season in Peru Leads to a Five Year Production Low, Prices Declining Partially Due to Hardship of Companies – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• Top 10 Foods Highest in Omega 3 Fatty Acids – HealthAliciousNess
• What is Happening to Agrobiodiversity? – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

In 2015, the World Health Organization categorized glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. A new lawsuit, filed on behalf of cancer victims, claims the Environmental Protection Agency had the information to label glyphosate as carcinogenic two years earlier and instead chose to claim glyphosate was “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”

Marion Copley, now deceased, was a toxicologist at the EPA for 30 years. In 2013, she wrote a letter to Jess Rowland, the chair of the EPA’s Cancer Assessment Review Committee (CARC), listing 14 reasons to classify glyphosate as carcinogenic. Copley also alleged that Rowland and other select colleagues changed important reports to benefit companies like Monsanto.

The lawsuit is demanding the release of Jess Rowland’s communications with Monsanto during his time on the CARC and his involvement with the release of the EPA’s memo declaring glyphosate is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”

Something Isn’t Adding Up

This is not the first time there have been questions surrounding the EPA and their treatment of glyphosate. A glyphosate risk report that found glyphosate was not likely to be carcinogenic to humans, a direct contrast to the WHO report, was released in 2016 on the EPA website on April 29, only to be taken down four days later. This is not the first time two different groups of scientists (the IARC and CARC) have taken a look at the same problem and come up with conflicting views. But the EPA sent officials to help conduct the IARC study. The discrepancy in results was enough for the House of Representatives Science Committee to request interviews with four different EPA officials, including Jess Rowland. While it makes sense for the chair of the CARC to be mentioned, the letter from Marion Copley makes the EPA’s findings seem more like a dictate from private interests than an independent government report.

Where is Monsanto in All of This?

It goes without saying that Monsanto is deeply invested in keeping glyphosate from being labeled as a health hazard. It’s easy to sound like a conspiracy theorist, accusing the EPA of being in Monsanto’s back pocket, that EPA scientists collaborated with the scientists who found that glyphosate was a probable carcinogen and then walked it back. Monsanto is now using the EPA’s official report to dispute the study that the found that glyphosate was harmful. In that light, Marion Copley’s allegations of changing study findings to favor industry are not so outlandish. Until we have a transparent system, we have to trust that government science has our best interests at heart. Do we matter more than Monsanto?

Related Reading:

• Hidden Dangers of Hand Sanitizers
• Scientists Against GMOs – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research
• Vaccine Economics – Lots of Money, Lies, and Politics
• Doctors Against GMOs – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research
• Autism and Vaccines: CDC Whistleblower Exposes Vaccine Dangers, Lies, and Cover-ups
• Influenza Vaccine – A Comprehensive Overview of the Potential Dangers and Effectiveness of the Flu Shot

Sources:

• Questions About EPA-Monsanto Collusion Raised in Cancer Lawsuits – Organic Consumer’s Association
• EPA Role in Glyphosate Cancer Decisions Questioned By U.S. Lawmaker – About Lawsuits
• Chairman Demands EPA Interviews Over Study that Vanished – E&E News
• Glyphosate Investigation – dtnpf.com