Now They're Coming After What we Eat

Comment: Really important article - read to the end.

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Christopher Monckton
Watts Up With That

At Harvard, there was once a University. Now that once noble campus has become a luxury asylum for the terminally feeble-minded. Walter Willett, one of the inmates (in his sadly incurable delusion he calls himself "Professor of Nutrition"), has gibbered to a well-meaning visitor from Business Insider that "eating a diet that's especially high in red meat will be undermining the sustainability of the climate."

Farewell, then, to the Roast Beef of Old England. So keen are we in the Old Country on our Sunday roast (cooked rare and sliced thickish) that the French call us les rosbifs. But the "Professor" (for we must humor him by letting him think he is qualified to talk about nutrition) wants to put a stop to all that.

As strikingly ignorant of all but the IPCC Party Line as others in that hopeless hospice for hapless halfwits, he overlooks the fact that the great plains of what is now the United States of America were once teeming with millions upon millions of eructating, halating ruminants. Notwithstanding agriculture, there are far fewer ruminants now than there were then.

The "Professor" drools on: "It's bad for the person eating it, but also really bad for our children and our grandchildren, so that's something I think we should totally, strongly advise against. It's — in fact — irresponsible."

It may be that the "Professor" - look how fetchingly he adjusts his tinfoil hat to a rakish angle - does not accept the theory of evolution. If, however, that theory is correct, the Earth is somewhat older than the 6000 years derived by the amiably barmy Bishop Ussher counting the generations since Abraham.
 
Agriculture, as we now understand it, only became widespread in the past 10,000 years. Before that, for perhaps two million years, our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate meat and fish and not a lot else - perhaps a little fruit and a few nuts now and then, but only in season. If eating all that saturated fat was bad for them, how on Earth were they fertile enough to breed generation after generation across the rolling millennia, leading eventually to us?

Let me give the "Professor" a brief lecture in nutrition, about which he plainly knows little. The energy in our food comes entirely from three macronutrients: fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. 

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Trump orders simpler path for genetically engineered food

Candice Choi
The Seattle Times

President Trump wants to make it easier for genetically engineered plants and animals to enter the food supply, and he signed an executive order Tuesday directing federal agencies to simplify the "regulatory maze" for producers.

The move comes as companies are turning to newer genetic engineering techniques that make it easier to tinker with the traits of plants and animals.

Greg Jaffe, biotechnology director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the impact of the executive order will depend on the details of how it's carried out by federal agencies. Simply deregulating could make people lose confidence in genetically engineered foods, he said.

"There needs to be an assurance of safety for those products," said Jaffe, who was among those briefed by government officials on a call before the order was announced.

The order also noted the government's policies should urge trading partners to adopt similar regulatory approaches. Even if the U.S. loosens regulations on genetically engineered foods, Jaffe noted companies could be hampered by regulations overseas.

How genetically engineered plants and animals are currently regulated in the U.S. varies depending on the exact methods used to produce them, and federal agencies have already been working to clarify policies as new technologies have emerged. But already, some aspects of the administration's approach have worried consumer advocacy groups.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed changing its regulations in a way that would mean much of the genetically modified corn and soy grown in the U.S. today would not necessarily have been subject to special oversight.

Crops produced with newer gene-editing technologies also wouldn't automatically be subject to special oversight under the proposed rule, unless they posed a risk as plant pests. Companies have said that gene-editing allows them to more precisely alter plants and animals, and that what they're doing could theoretically be achieved through conventional breeding. 

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Do We Face a Global Food Disaster?

F. William Engdahl
NEO

No, this is not at all an endorsement of the apocalyptic scenarios of AOC or that famous young Swedish climate expert, Greta. It is, however, a look at unusual weather disasters in several key growing regions from the USA to Australia, the Philippines and beyond that could dramatically affect food availability and prices in the coming year. That in turn could have major political implications depending on how the rest of the growing season develops.

USA Midwest Waterlogged

According to the latest May 20 report of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the US Department of Agriculture, corn and soybean crops are well behind the planting growth levels normal this time of the planting season. They report that only 49% of all planned corn acreage in the US has been planted compared with 78% at this time a year ago. Of that only 19% has yet emerged from the ground compared to 47% in May 2018. In terms of soybeans, barely 19% of crops have yet been planted compared with 53% a year before. Rice acreage planted is down to 73% compared to 92% a year ago in the six US rice-growing states. Of course, should weather dramatically improve the final harvest numbers could improve. It is simply too early to predict.

The USA is by a wide margin the world largest soybean producer with 34 percent of the world’s soybean production and 42% of world exports prior to the China trade battles. The US is also the world largest corn or maize producer, almost double China, the number two. A serious harvest failure in these two crops could significantly affect world food prices, leaving aside the unfortunate fact that almost all US soybeans and corn are GMO crops. They are mainly used in animal feed. 

A major factor in the disruption of the US Midwest growing season is the fact that the past 12 months have seen the greatest precipitation levels since the US Government began keeping statistics in 1895, according to the US NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Record snowfall followed by abnormally heavy rains are the reason.

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Breastfeeding boosts babies' brain growth

Karen Foster
Prevent Disease

Preemies who primarily consume breast milk have significantly higher levels of metabolites important for brain growth and development, according to sophisticated imaging conducted by an interdisciplinary research team at Children's National.

Breast milk is always better than formula because it provides critical nutrients and a diverse array of antioxidant protection as well. Earlier studies have shown that breast milk lowers the incidence of diarrhea, influenza and respiratory infections during infancy, while protecting against the later development of allergies, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses.

Some studies have even suggest that children up to the age of one that are fed beverages other than breast milk are at risk of becoming malnourished.

The excitement around the impact of breast milk on microorganisms in the gut, called the microbiota, has largely focused on bacteria, with little known about fungi. But fungi could be important to the development of allergies or disease later in life.

Babies fed a dairy-based formula grow up to have higher blood pressure than babies who are breast-fed.

"Our previous research established that vulnerable preterm infants who are fed breast milk early in life have improved brain growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes. It was unclear what makes breastfeeding so beneficial for newborns' developing brains," says Catherine Limperopoulos, Ph.D., director of MRI Research of the Developing Brain at Children's National. "Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, a non-invasive imaging technique that describes the chemical composition of specific brain structures, enables us to measure metabolites essential for growth and answer that lingering question."

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The cult of veganism is riddled with inconsistencies

Paul Murray 
Western Australian 

Do vegans think that lions, hyenas — even feral cats — and other carnivores also should give up eating meat?

And if so, can I negotiate the video rights with Direct Action Everywhere to catch their silent walk-by protests live?

Or maybe not so live.

If veganism is driven by a moral issue about exploiting animals, why does it not logically extend to other meat-eating primates — our closest relatives, chimpanzees, are omnivores too — or to other predators?

These people would march in the streets about such discrimination in other forms.

What about fish? How can vegans possibly approve of big fish eating smaller ones if rescuing animals that are plundered for food is central to their cause?

Fsh are sentient animals. They feel pain and they bleed. Some fish positively bream with personality. Sorry, brim.

When will James Warden and his mates start lecturing white pointers about their dietary choices?

Now, it’s not funny to ridicule vegans. They can eat what they like.

But when vegan activists wilfully interfere with the livelihoods of farmers, invade the social interactions of citizens enjoying a meal out and try to make children fearful of a balanced diet, they should expect some push-back.

And the cult of veganism is riddled with inconsistencies.

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Climate & Cycles of Civilization What to Expect Moving Into 2025 : Peter Temple

Adapt 2030
 

Peter Temple of World Cycles Institute discusses the culmination of civilization, economic, society and climate cycles around 2020. 

This matches the Grand Solar Minimum coolest point around 2023. 

It’s all about repeating cycles and here is what you can expect moving forward. 

 • 172 Year Society Collapse Cycle • 414 year Grand Solar Minimum Cycle • 516 year cycle 3 x 172 a grand society power shift cycle • 1548 year Civilization Cycle • Bob Prector: Cycles in the Stock Market Delay Wave International • Raymond Wheeler: Drought, climate and cycles of civilization • Peaks of climatic cycles and peaks of social cycles • Real Estate Cycle • Global Weather Calamities effecting food production globally • Cryptocurrency in Elliot Waves • Wheeler’s Drought Clock • Greenland’s ice gain and ice loss cycles on 3200 year cycles • How governments are trying to control the flow of information so citizens do not panic 

Peter Temple World Cycles Institute https://worldcyclesinstitute.com

https://worldcyclesinstitute.com/theory/ 

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ADAPT 2030 Abundant Harvest E-Book Link 

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*** ADAPT 2030 True Leaf Market Link 

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From Ancient Wisdom to Hot Health Trend: Bone Broth Wins the Day for Nutrient Density

Crystal Lauer Health Impact News
 
In South America, it has been supposed that “Good broth can resurrect the dead.” In Greece, Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, recommended steaming bowls of broth for his digestion-impaired patients, approximately 2,400 years ago.  Maimonides extolled the ‘Excellence’ of broth as both a food and a medicine, causing the golden broth so commonly prepared by Jewish mothers to become colloquially known as “Jewish Penicillin.”

From ancient times, when bones were simmered over fires in turtle shells, to modern, fast paced cities, where it is sold by the cup out of high-end specialized restaurants, bone broth has been touted and accepted as both a medicine and a food by layman and physician alike.

As a staple of the popular Paleo Diet and the Keto Diet, its proponents swear by its super healing abilities. Its virtues can be seen splashed across magazines, books and trendy websites. Suddenly the world has discovered this golden elixir, that has been around for thousands of years and ironically is a real food tradition at the base of almost every culture worldwide.

The question is, does it really deserve such lofty acclaim?

Bone broth may simply be the simmering of bones in water with the possible addition of vegetables, herbs and spices, to extract their minerals and nutrients, but the results are anything but ordinary. 

Many store-bought broths and soups rely on lab-produced flavors and a particularly ugly secret in the form of Monosodium glutamate, a known neurotoxin, to enhance their taste.  Home cooked broths made from real food, are superior in both nutrients and taste and for a fraction of the cost of their store-bought cousins. This makes simmering your own broth both economical and healthy.

So, what’s the real story with bone broth? 

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Poor Diet Kills More than Cigarettes?! Key Study Shows We’re Eating Ourselves to Death

Comment: Smoking is the pariah of age and the least of our problems. Stress and poor diet account for a huge, if not most of our deaths in the Western world. 

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Mike Barret
Natural Society

The Western diet is no longer unique to the United States. Many countries the world over have adopted a diet laden with *excess* salt, fat, sugar, and other health-compromising ingredients. Now, people are literally paying for it with their lives, according to a recently published global study. [1]

Researchers looked at the eating habits of people from 195 countries to estimate how much poor diets contribute to mortality. They discovered that 11 million people die each year because they consume too many unhealthy foods and skimp on the healthful ones, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. 

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Lab grown meat backed by Bill Gates to hit shelves in first US state this summer

Nick Meyer
Alt Health Works

Contrary to Biotech talking points, true genetically engineered food has only been on store shelves since the 1990s.

The first commercially available GMO crop was the "FlavrSavr" tomato, which was scrapped due to consumer and corporate rejection.

Since then, many other GMO crops, foods and similar experiments have made their way to store shelves, unlabeled and not tested for long-term safety.

These crops and foods were rushed to market even in spite of warnings from the FDA's own scientists, as detailed in the popular book 'Altered Genes, Twisted Truth' by public interest attorney Steven M. Druker.

The latest lab grown food development is a far different type of experiment, however, with sights on rocking the foundation of one of the most profitable industries in the United States: the meat industry.

And now, one Bill Gates-backed project is ready for its close-up, and will be sold on store shelves for the first time this summer. 

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Designer Creates Algae-Based Alternative For Plastic Packaging That Could Save Our Environment

Truth Theory

It seems like people are becoming more and more aware of plastic products and the threat that they pose to the environment. Plastic is used in and for almost everything as of now, and food packaging is one area where lots of plastic is used. While you might not have noticed it, but if you ever go down the aisle of a supermarket, then you will realize the amount of plastic that is used. It is quite clear that we need to tackle this problem.

A few engineers and scientists, as well as Margarita Talep, a designer, have come to our rescue in this situation. Margarita Talep has been successful in developing an algae-based product which can be a great substitute for plastic food packaging. Packaging, generally, has a short lifecycle. So, Talep planned to develop a kind of material that would be capable of holding food items or any other product but when discarded, it can breakdown easily without accumulating as waste.

Talep uses a gel-like substance called agar, which is sourced from seaweed. This is not a new product. It is quite commonly used as a kind of food thickener. When Talep understood the potential of this gel-like substance, she heated it up to develop a polymer and then she added water to it to act as a plasticizer. For colors, she used natural dyes that were developed from vegetables and fruits like carrots, beets, purple cabbage, and blueberries.

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What's Really Behind The Plant-based Diet Agenda?

Edward Talbot
Sustainable Agriculture Systems

I have previously covered the anti-animal agriculture narrative here and the plant-based and/or alternative protein agenda here.

But as the plant-based diet agenda is currently enjoying an uninterrupted public relations campaign facilitated by the obliging media; and given last week's launch of the EAT-Lancet Commission's report on healthy diets for sustainable food systems, I feel compelled to delve a little deeper into the matter.

Although I loathe mixing business and politics, livestock agriculture is becoming increasingly politicised. Regrettably, this forces one's hand.

Why something so innocuous as personal dietary choice needs to be voiced so loudly is a strange phenomenon. However, there are some interesting facets of information that can be gleaned by analysing the EAT-Lancet Commission's posturing and the alternative protein movement. The anti-animal agriculture narrative and plant-based diet agenda combines political ideology and commercial interests. This "movement" is insidious, unsavoury, and cannot be ignored by those who value liberty and consumer choice.

Although most people cannot deprive themselves of high-quality nutrition for long-periods of time, the fact that some people are going to such great lengths to avoid the consumption of meat and dairy products is rather telling. The nutritional argument against consuming animal source foods is non-existent. It is quite simply illogical that red meat or dairy products cause modern diseases (I have previously covered this subject here). Dietary recommendations have been moulded by religious and other personal beliefs (such as the temperance movement), animal rights activists, and food companies since their inception. None of this is anything new. What is new, is the concept of promoting a "planetary health diet."

Nutrition science is ambiguous enough without adding extra layers of complexity. What's good for the planet and what's good for human health are understandable concerns to have. But conjoining the two is imprudent, especially when innumerable falsehoods are bandied about regarding both.

By far and away, the biggest contemporary driver of the anti-animal agriculture narrative is the supposed environmental impact of livestock - and that is a good place to start a critique of the plant-based diet agenda. 

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Monsanto/Bayer Moving to Genome Edit Fruits and More

F. William Engdahl 
 
Not surprising, Monsanto, today hidden behind the Bayer logo, as the world leader in patented GMO seeds and the probable carcinogenic Roundup herbicide with glyphosate, is attempting to quietly patent genetically modified or GMO varieties of fruits using controversial gene-editing. The “beauty” of this for Monsanto/Bayer is that in the USA, according to a recent ruling by the US Department of Agriculture, gene-edited agriculture needs no special independent testing. The developments are not good for human health or safety, nor will it do anything to give the world better nutrition.

The agrichemical and GMO giant Monsanto, which today tries to keep a lower profile inside the German agrichemical and GMO giant Bayer, is moving into the highly controversial domain of gene-editing of new crop varieties. In 2018 as the company was being deluged with lawsuits over its use of the probable carcinogen, Roundup, Monsanto invested $125 million in a gene-editing startup called Pairwise. The link is anything but casual.

Former Monsanto Vice President for Global Biotechnology, Tom Adams, has taken the post of CEO of Pairwise. In short, this is a Monsanto gene-editing project. In a press release, Pairwise says it is using the controversial CRISPR gene-editing technology to create genetically edited produce. Among their goals apparently is a super-sweet variety of strawberry or apples, just what our sugar-saturated population doesn’t need.

CRISPR gene-editing, a stealth attempt by the global agribusiness industry to promote artificial mutations of crops and, as the world was shocked recently to hear, even humans, as in China, is being advanced, much like GMO crops falsely were, as solution to world hunger. Pairwise founder, Keith Joung, told media that their CRISPR gene-edited fruits, “will speed innovation that is badly needed to feed a growing population amid challenging conditions created by a changing climate.” How sweeter genetically-edited strawberries will solve world hunger he leaves to the imagination. Pairwise also says that gene-edited fruits would somehow also cut down on food waste. One has to be also skeptical there as well, even if it makes nice promotion copy. In addition to super-sweet strawberries, Monsanto plans to use its work with Pairwise to develop new varieties of gene-edited corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and canola crops. And because the USDA unfortunately has given the green light, the new genetically modified foods will undergo no independent testing for health and safety.

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Sharehouse: Small supermarket selling food rescued from bins for 'pay-what-you-can' prices opening stores across UK

The Independent

Customers at supermarket-style stores pay whatever they want for fruit, veg, bread, tins, cakes and even Nando's chicken – all rescued from going to landfill

 

Don’t worry about trying to find us, says Adam Smith, founder of a new supermarket-style enterprise whose mission is nothing short of saving the planet: “You’ll see the queue outside.”

Sure enough, a dozen or so people are waiting at the doors of his Sharehouse shop in Sheffield, ahead of opening on the afternoon I turn up. They have come – and will continue to crowd in for the next two hours – for two main reasons.

The first is because the choice of groceries inside this unrefurbished warehouse is phenomenal: crates of fruit and veg, baskets of breads, a deli counter offering pies and pates and pickles, tinned goods and cakes. Lots of cakes. Very occasionally, you can get blast chilled chicken from Nando’s here – “although,” says Smith, “it flies out the door pretty quick”.

The second reason all these customers keep turning up is because of the price for everything in here: “Pay whatever you feel.”

People come in, fill their baskets and then hand over as much or as little money as they want. Some people do weekly shops for a fiver, and that’s fine.

What’s the catch? There is one, of course. Everything here has been salvaged from supermarket bins, restaurant leftovers and wholesale market waste. Edibles otherwise marked for landfill have been saved and piled high. Smith once got called by a food bank with a surplus of donated tins and nowhere to store them. He collected them in his van, stuck them in store and watched them get snapped up.

Local branches of Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and M&S all have his team take their unwanted goods. Today there is an abundance of potatoes here. “Too wonky even for the wonky range,” Smith explains with a shrug.

This, then, is the Real Junk Food Project, an enterprise created by the 32-year-old one-time executive chef with the aim of reducing the UK’s vast quantities of food waste, while helping people struggling – or simply seeking a bargain – in austerity Britain. And it’s proving more popular than he ever imagined. 

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5 Biotech Products U.S. Regulators Aren’t Ready For

MIT Technology Review

Emily Mullin

New techniques being used to produce our food or shape the environment raise regulatory questions.

Lab-made meat. Hornless cattle. Designer bacteria. Dozens of futuristic-sounding products are being developed using new tools like CRISPR and synthetic biology. As companies seek to commercialize more of these products, one big question lingers: Who will regulate them?

A new report issued by the National Academy of Sciences says U.S. regulatory agencies need to prepare for new plants, animals, and microbes that will be hitting the market in the next five to 10 years. The new products, the report says, could overwhelm regulatory agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration.

“All of these products have the potential to be beneficial, but the question to me is, how do they compare to the alternative?” says Jennifer Kuzma, co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center at North Carolina State University and a member of the National Academy of Sciences committee that prepared the report.

Here are some products scientists are already working on that U.S. regulatory agencies aren’t ready for.

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The Global Famine Begins: UN Announces That The Worst Food Crisis Since World War II Is Happening Right Now

Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog

We always knew that this would start happening.  Earlier this month, I wrote about the severe economic problems that are plaguing South America, but up to this point I have neglected to discuss the horrific famines that are breaking out all over Africa.  Right now there is a desperate need for food in South Sudan, Somalia, northeast Nigeria, Eritrea and Kenya.  And Yemen, even though it is not technically part of Africa, is being affected by many of the same factors that are crippling nations all over eastern Africa.  The United Nations says that more than 20 million people could die from starvation and disease if nothing is done.  When I write about economic collapse, this is the kind of thing that I am talking about, and we are starting to see alarming conditions spread across the globe.  Many believe that we could never possibly face this kind of food crisis in the western world, but unfortunately wishful thinking will only get you so far.

The United Nations was formed in 1945, and the UN has just announced that what we are facing this year is “the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the UN”.  The following comes from a CNN article entitled “20 million at risk of starvation in world’s largest crisis since 1945, UN says“…

“We stand at a critical point in history. Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the UN,” UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said Friday.
“Now, more than 20 million people across four countries face starvation and famine. Without collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death. Many more will suffer and die from disease.”

It would be hard to overstate the level of human suffering that we are witnessing in many parts of Africa at this moment.  In Somalia, the UN estimates that more than 6 million people are in desperate need of food aid…

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While You Were Distracted By The US Election, The Senate Outlawed GMO Labeling Nationwide

True Activist

 

While attention was diverted to the US election for much of this year, the Senate quietly made null and void state laws that require that GMO foods be labeled.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are a concern for a number of reasons. When consumed, GMOs have been shown to cause gastrointestinal problems, increase cancer risk, and even silence human genes, not to mention their harmful effects on the environment and endangered species such as bees. Within the US, there is also a dearth of safety testing as most tests that show that GMOs are “safe” are short-term studies, lasting only a matter of months. Longer-term studies, even those conducted for just a few months longer than industry-funded studies, have found that the consumption of GMOs causes serious problems, such as an increase in tumor risk. For those US consumers who are rightly concerned about the presence of GMOs in their food, mandatory GMO labeling is one solution that gives consumers the right to know what is in their food while not affecting the GMO food purchases of those who support biotechnology. A handful of US states have successfully passed GMO labeling laws such as Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont. Similar initiatives in other states, like California, only failed due to the massive amounts of money funneled to the opposition by Industrial Agriculture and Food companies as well as the corporations who create GMO seeds and associated agrochemicals, such as Monsanto.

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Government Tried To Stop This Family From Growing Food On Their Lawn And This Happened

minds.com

 

Are Americans losing their right to grow their own food peacefully on private property? Check out this video where these happy-go-lucky homeowners-turned-vegetable-farmers explain how their city threatened to fine them $500 per day if they didn’t uproot their well-manicured, fruitful garden of goodies. While it would have been easy to cower under the pressure of the civic strong-arming, the couple realized that they weren’t just fighting to keep their own garden; they were fighting for everybody’s right to grow their own food.

Gardening More Meaningful than Voting in a Rigged Political System

Activist Post 

The most effective change-makers in our society aren’t waiting around for a new president to make their lives better, they’re planting seeds, quite literally, and through the revolutionary act of gardening, they’re rebuilding their communities while growing their own independence.

Every four years when the big election comes around, millions of people put their passion for creating a better world into an increasingly corrupt and absurd political contest. What if that energy was instead invested in something worthwhile, something that directly and immediately improved life, community, and the world at large?

The simple act of growing our own food directly challenges the control matrix in many authentic ways, which is why some of the most forward-thinking and strongest-willed people are picking up shovels and defiantly starting gardens. It has become much more of a meaningful political statement than supporting political parties and candidates.

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Countering Pro-GMO Deceptions and Falsehoods. Genetically Engineered Crops are not Safe

Colin Todhunter 
Global Research

In his recent piece for The Times newspaper in the UK, Viscount Matt Ridley argues that a new report from the American National Academies of Sciences (NAS) leaves no room for doubt that genetically engineered crops are as safe or safer, and are certainly better for the environment, than conventionally bred crops.

Ridley adheres to the belief that GM technology reduces insecticide use and speculates that future GM crops will be even safer, better for the environment and better for human health. He says that it is a disgrace that Greenpeace still campaigns against Golden Rice, a vitamin-enhanced variety that its backers claim could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year.

According to Ridley, opposition from rich westerners adds to the cost of bringing such crops to the market, which he argues restricts the spread of GM technology.

In discussing the labelling of GM food in the US, Ridley argues this leaves consumers with the impression that there is something wrong. He argues that the recent NAS report makes the point that genetic engineering is a method, not a category of crop, and it makes no sense to single it out for special labelling because regulation should be based on traits, not techniques. Ridley implies, therefore, that GM is no different from food that is boiled or roasted as its actual content remains unaffected.

Ridley finishes by saying the NAS report points out that “emerging genetic technologies have blurred the distinction between genetic engineering and conventional plant breeding to the point where regulatory systems based on process are technically difficult to defend.”

With a good dose of industry-inspired PR flurry, he concludes that because gene editing in particular will soon allow scientists to improve crops in ways that have none of the even theoretical risks that critics highlight, if Europe does not embrace biotech plants now, its agriculture will wilt.

Unfortunately, for readers of The Times, Ridley’s piece is the usual concoction of misrepresentations, falsehoods and blunders we have come to expect of pro-GMO puff pieces that rely on flawed sources and reports.

His major blunder is to have accepted at face value the NAS report.

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From The Green Revolution To GMOs: Living In The Shadow Of Global Agribusiness

Colin Todhunter 
True Publica

What can we do about the powerful transnational agribusiness companies that have captured or at the very least heavily influence regulatory bodies, research institutes, trade agreements and governments? How can we assess the safety and efficacy of GMOs or their other technologies and products when narratives and decision-making processes have become distorted by these companies?

Through the ‘green revolution’ chemical-intensive model of agriculture these corporations and their powerful backers promoted and instituted, they have been able to determine what seeds are to be used by farmers, what is to be grown and what inputs are to be applied. This, in turn, has adversely effected the nutritional content of food, led to the over-exploitation of water and diminished drought resistance, degraded soil, undermined biodiversity, polluted the environment, destroyed farmers’ livelihoods and so much more: with 60 years’ farming experience behind him, Bhaskar Save outlined many of these impacts in his open letter to Indian officials some years back.

These powerful corporations increasingly hold sway over a globalised system of food and agriculture from seed to plate. And with major mergers within the agribusiness sector in the pipeline, power will be further consolidated and the situation is likely to worsen. While scientific innovation has a role to play in improving agriculture, the narrative about farming has been shaped to benefit the interests of this handful of wealthy, politically influential corporations whereby commercial interest trumps any notion of the public good.

The green revolution has proved to be disastrous in many areas (for example, see this, this and this). If the technology involved had been used more judiciously and genuinely in the public interest – and had not been married to geopolitical interestsresulting in the creation of food deficit regions or instituted for the commercial gain of corporations – would we not now be in a better position? And would organic farming and agroecology have received greater attention and investment and be playing a much greater role (as research shows they should), even a dominant one, in agriculture?

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See also:  World State Policies IX: Food as a Weapon and GM Crops Unleashed