World Food Report: Part 2

This is Part 2 of my blog on GMOs, world food policy, and land availability in developing countries.  Again, this is the second half of my favorite post so far:  Freelance writers know that blogs/writing for the general public should be written at the sixth grade level--I didn't do that for this content--nor is this post "short" in order to meet the attention span of the general public.  That's because I'm discovering my readers tend to be in an educated demographic, so I'm "bringing it on." (Bold print and italics have been added for my own emphasis.)

In my last few blogs, I have talked about the ills of GMOs on a world level and their effect on global food production and small farming.  GMO seeds cannot be saved, and farmers in developing can’t afford to buy them year after, risking continual debt.  Many scientists and governmental institutions encourage their use, but GMOs also degrade the soil quality, which is already a big problem in poor countries.

“Even though you know you are overusing your soil and that it will degrade if you do not rest it or plant less aggressively, the degradation happens at some point in the future. … And while fertilizers and other land improvements might be a good investment by conventional calculations, they are of no help if you cannot afford them or cannot even get a loan to finance them.” (Heifer International, World Ark:  “Poverty traps, Why the Poor Stay Poor”)  GMO crops will make this problem worse. 

According to Heifer International, “social exclusion is a poverty problem in its own right; in addition, the more unequal the distribution of wealth, the larger the fraction of the population that is unable to put up collateral for a loan, so fewer children can attend school and fewer businesses and microenterprises can expand…Across countries, there is a danger that rich and poor will become two worlds, separate and unequal, sowing the seeds of future international conflict, terrorist groups [my prior post talks about the inverse relationship between women farmers and terrorism], global environmental destruction, spread of disease without regard to borders, and continued human misery among the poor…"

"People in low-income countries know full well that the rich countries could do much more to help, but have chosen not to.  Debt bondage traps: While credit is needed, the wrong kind of debt from unscrupulous moneylenders can also be a trap. Colluding moneylenders can calibrate loan amounts and interest payments to ensure that a family can never get out of debt.” 

This debt will become even worse if Monsanto begins to sue poor farmers in developing nations for patent violations, as is its policy in North America.  Monsanto regularly sues small farmers in North America (and has a $10 million budget to do so) for patent violations due to inadvertent cross-pollination caused by Monsanto’s GMO crops from neighboring farms.

If government policy encourages use of GMOs in developing countries, inevitably issues arise about big business owning and controlling the seeds themselves.  GM seeds are now being implemented in Iraq, and will most likely polute most farmers crops, destroying thier heirloom seeds that have been cultivated for thousands of years.  Heirloom seed rights are important to poor farmers, and they cannot afford to buy the yearly patent on GM seeds.  Powerful institutions controlling land availability in general, and distribution is not necessarily fair to poor farmers.

Oxfam explains, “In the USA, 4 per cent of farm owners account for nearly half of all farm land. In Guatemala less than 8 per cent of agricultural producers hold almost 80 per cent of land – a figure that is not atypical for Central America as a whole.  In Brazil, one per cent of the population owns nearly half of all land. If governments fail to provide secure access to land for their populations, then powerful local elites and investors are able to ride roughshod over local communities..."

"In recent cases of large-scale land purchases, expropriations are the rule; the principle of free, prior, and informed consent is routinely ignored; and compensation is usually too low, if paid at all. Initial promises of development and jobs often evaporate: the land may remain idle, or the investment is highly mechanized, offering a few jobs to highly skilled males only.  A major World Bank study found that investors were targeting precisely the countries in which institutions were weakest…”

In fact, issues arise in food distribution due to corporate domination of markets.  Oxfam explains, “Only 40 cents of every taxpayer dollar spent on US food aid actually goes to buying food.  A big chunk goes straight into the pockets of US agribusiness companies…Nearly 40 per cent of total food aid costs are paid to US shipping companies, where again, restricted bidding limits competition and pushes up prices. Such aid takes longer to reach those in need. During 2004–08, US food aid to Africa required an average of 147 days for delivery, compared with 35–41 days for food from the African continent.

And in situations where shipping food aid from the USA would be an appropriate response, Oxfam estimates that procuring transport on the open market would allow the American taxpayer to provide 15 per cent more food, enough to feed an additional 3.2 million people in emergency situations. Source: Barrett and Maxwell (2008) Food Aid After Fifty Years: Recasting its Role”

The website www.BillMoyers.com, features interviews done by Bill Moyers explaining the impact of the widening gap between rich and the poor in the world, the domination of corporations,  and what adverse effects that is having. (Full Show: Winner-Take-All-Politics)

More about economics from Oxfam:  “Despite more than doubling the size of its economy between 1990 and 2005, India failed to make even a tiny dent in the number of hungry people…In Brazil, however, where economic growth has been slower, hunger has been rolled back at an incredible pace… Sadly, India failed to prioritize hunger or develop a coherent strategy...In Brazil, the opposite was true. A national crosssectoral strategy launched in 2003, consisted of 50 linked initiatives ranging from cash transfers for poor mothers to extension services for small-scale food producers…

In a region [Ethiopia] recently plagued by drought, sacks of maize stuffed to bursting and piled to the ceiling of a warehouse in Shashemene, Ethiopia, are a welcome sight...This corn was grown right here. By small farmers in the West Arsi Zone...‘We have a stock in our bank and our members are not starving like other people,’ said the bank’s storekeeper at the time. ‘Our experience in the past three years has shown us we can make progress in our lives.’...Rejection of new technologies and trade have the potential to lock farmers into poverty...[But] it is certainly not the case that big [farming] is bad. Whether a farm is ‘bad’ or not depends upon the practices of the farmer or company running it…Nor is it a case of ‘big is beautiful’..., a single large-scale farm imported from Brazil into Tanzania could displace 12,500 smallholder farms.”

There are myths about smallholder farmers including that they have low productivity—but this depends on access to irrigation and fertilizer.  Another myth is that small farmers in developing countries shy away from technology and innovation and that they are not very entrepreneurial.  Another false assumption is that small farm holders aren’t savvy about markets.

Oxfam continues, “Moreover, today’s large farms tend to suffer from a heavy

ecological footprint – due to profligate water use, pollution of groundwater, and reliance on oil-based agro-chemicals and diesel-burning machinery – thus
undermining the human and natural resources on which food production must depend.  If we are to meet the three challenges set out in the previous section, then sustainable models of smallholder production must be where the lion’s share of effort goes. The powerful elites in poor countries that control land and block reform. …

Governments must renew their purpose as custodians of the public good rather than allowing elites to drag them by the nose. … The examples of Brazil and Viet Nam, among others, show that strong political leaders with a clear moral purpose can drive government success.”

A Votre Sante (Here's to Your Health), and to the world's small farmers, Alix

GMOs and Africa

Recently the Gates Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and the United Nations World Food Program teamed up with Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to fund an effort intended to help farmers in poor countries increase their yield and soil quality.  This effort is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Central America and will support a large number of woman farmers.

WFP is the currently largest single purchaser of food for humanitarian relief.  According to GatesFoundation.org, the Gates Foundation has given 66 million for this program to help Africa, the Buffet Foundation 9.1 million, and the Belgian Government has funded the Congo with $750,000. 

Gates has stated that GMO crops have the "potential to address farmer's challenges more efficiently than conventional techniques." In 2010 the Gates Foundation invested 23.1 million in 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock. (My December 2011 post reviews the film The Future of Food that interviews small farmers who have been exploited by Monsanto's regular practice of litigation for violating seed patents--for cross contamination caused by Monsanto GM seeds. For more about Monsanto and GMOs, see my October 2011 post "Monsanto, lies and cover up?")

An article from the online African Executive states about GM seeds, "Patenting, or claiming intellectual property rights means that farmers who buy GM seeds are forbidden from seed saving by law, and must buy new seed from the company each season...it is ironic that while GM purports to help to solve hunger and poverty in Africa, it may instead place an impossible burden on the poorest farmers...International NGOs working on food security issues are in agreement that patented GM crops present a serious threat to farmers and food rights..." (See my September 2011 post on GMOs to see what countries have already banned them.)

AGRA (Agra-Alliance.org) helps small farmers solely in Africa increase their yield with "the use of improved seeds and farm management techniques" and the improvement of soil quality through organic and inorganic fertilizer.  The Buffet Foundation has given 83 million in the past to small-scale farmers for soil improvement, participatory farm research, and the "development of drought-tolerant and virus resistant crop varieties to increase crop yields."

AGRA states that it "supports the rights of farmers to conserve and utilize their own seeds" and does not fund the development of GMOs.  However, according to Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, "in Kenya AGRA has used funds from the Gates Foundation to write grants for research in genetically modified agriculture...nearly 80% of Gates funding in Kenya involves biotech and there have been over $100million in grants to organizations connected to Monsanto.  In 2008 some 30% of the [Gates] foundation's agricultural development funds went to promotion or developing genetically modified seeds."  (My December 2011 post reviews the documentary Bad Seed, which explains that GM cotton seeds in India produced 5x less yield than heirloom seeds, leading to the suicide of 400 Indian farmers.)


The following is an excerpt of a petition written in 2012 by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Friends of the Earth Ghana, Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy:

We the undersigned representing civil society groups are concerned about recent statements that emanated from the first Pan African Biotechnology Stewardship Conference held in Accra, Ghana on the 1st of December 2011, which called on Africans to use biotechnology to provide “poor farmers with healthier, more bountiful crops to reduce hunger and poverty in Africa"...

We are disappointed that an unproven and unsafe technology is being foisted on Africa simply because of the unfortunate continual characterization of Africa as a chronically hungry continent.
It is important to understand that, the agricultural fortunes of the continent have been adversely impacted mainly by externally generated neoliberal policies. Our agricultural systems are threatened by industries that seek to control our food and our livelihoods by destroying our agricultural systems. The move towards intensified, chemical based agriculture is set to undermine the predominant family based agro-ecological food production on the continent. The promotion and introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) with intellectual property rights over seeds represents a serious threat to African farmers rights to reproduce, save and share seeds. It also threatens to erode seed diversity represents new forms of stealing, as all industrial seeds are taken from seeds cultivated, developed and preserved through thousands of years of selection and breeding by our people.

We express total disgust at the manner by which the burden for solutions to every crisis faced by the North is shifted unto Africa...

While the world is advancing towards stricter control of GMOs, it is a different situation in Africa where our leaders are covertly or ignorantly colluding with multinational agribusinesses to colonize our food systems as well as give out our arable lands through dubious land grabbing agreements.
We note that recently many countries have been taking steps to secure their agriculture from pollution through modern biotechnology and to secure the safety of national food systems. We give examples here.

1) Benin Republic has maintained a moratorium on GMOs over the past 10 years.
2) Peru approved the law banning GM production for 10 years.[3]
3) The Mexican States of Tlaxcala and Michoacán each passed legislation banning the planting of genetically modified corn to protect natural plants from further contamination of transgenes.[4]
4) China said GMO is not a priority, stemming from public debate and outcry over the safety of GMO food[5].
5) In the United States: California counties of Mendocino, Trinity and Marin have successfully banned GM crops.
6) In New Zealand: No GM foods are grown.
7) In Germany: There is a ban on the cultivation or sale of GMO maize.
8) In Ireland: All GM crops were banned for cultivation in 2009, and there is a labeling system for foods containing GM to ensure that such foods are identified as such.
9) In Austria, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria and Luxembourg there are bans on the cultivation and sale of GMOs.
10) In France: Monsanto's MON810 GM corn had been approved but its cultivation was forbidden in 2008. There is widespread public mistrust of GMOs that has been successful in keeping GM crops out of the country.
11) Madeira the autonomous Portuguese island requested a country-wide ban on genetically modified crops last year and was permitted to do so by the European Union (EU).
12) Switzerland banned all GM crops, animals, and plants on its fields and farms in a public referendum in 2005, but the initial ban was for only five years. The ban has since been extended through 2013.
There are several other examples.
It is clear that the Genetic engineering is a technology in search of a market. “Experts in Biotechnology from around the world” and lobbyists from the genetic engineering (GE) industry are pushing the notion that Africa’s only choice is between hunger and GE crops. This is patently false and is merely an arm-twisting effort that African farmers and peoples’must resist. Hunger can be avoided without growing and eating GE crops. Studies have shown that the claim that genetically engineered (GE) crops have a higher yield than natural varieties is virtually a myth...

For these reasons we ask our governments and peoples as a matter of urgency to support ecological-friendly farming which nurtures our soil, cultivates diversity and supplies our families with safe and nutritious food. Ecological agriculture also helps to combat climate change.
We therefore resolve as follows:
1.That there are no successes stories to tell about GMOs other than tales of woes.Africans must not be used as guinea pigs for unverified technologies and the continent must no longer be used as a dumping ground for the products of the biotech companies...

In 2008, after three years of solid work, over 400 scientists, 30 governments from developed and developing countries, as well as 30 civil society organizations, concluded work under the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). About 60 countries endorsed the report at a meeting in Johannesburg in April of that year.The report concluded that modern biotechnology would have very limited contribution to the feeding of the world in the foreseeable future. That report is an excellent blue print for action by African governments rather than getting tied to the apron-strings of speculators and neo-colonial powers whose objective is to exploit, subjugate and destroy food production systems on the African continent

Signed
Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria
Friends of the Earth Ghana
Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
(Add your organization's name here and reply to mariann@eraction.org and annybassi@yahoo.com on or before 30 January 2012).


To read the entire petition please go to www.foodfirst.org.  In my prior posts onGMOs, I describe their dangers to health, soil quality, as have talked about the myriad of countries that have banned them.  While some African countries have activist movements resisting them, GMO seeds are currently mandated in Iraq--part of the agreement of the post-Iraqi war.  In North America,  Monsanto's crops contaminate farmers fields, and then Monsanto sues them for patent violation.  Foodfirst.org is a great site, and hopefully awareness will be raised about GMOs to prevent their perpetuation.

A Votre Sante, (Here's To Your Health), Alix

Dr. David Getoff: Connection between cancer and sugar (YouTube Link)

I just watched a video at www.youtube.com by Dr. David Getoff about the link between sugar and cancer.  Sugar feeds the cancer cells, and obviously chemicals in our foods and products contribute to cancer. 

Getoff also mentions that our bodies need "good fats" to be healthy, which I have discussed, along with sugar, in a prior blog (Controversy About Carbs, December 2011). 

Type in "Cancer: Doctor's lack of knowledge can shorten your life" if you want to watch this video by Dr. Getoff on YouTube.

Mercola recommends under 25 grams of sugar (fructose--preferably sucrose in fruit) a day to avoid "chronically raising blood glucose."  For those who like the seasonal Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, there are 48 grams of sugar in one 16oz grande sized cup.

A Votre Sante (Here's To Your Health), Alix

Gardasil's HPV Vaccine: Paralysis, Death, Lawsuit

This is part of an article about the HPV vaccine written by Dr. Joseph Mercola at www.Mercola.com titled 213 Women Who Took This Suffered Permanent Disability.

"Naomi Snell, a 28-year-old woman in Melbourne, Australia, is leading a class-action civil lawsuit against drug maker Merck after suffering autoimmune and neurological complications following injections with the HPV vaccine, Gardasil.

After receiving the first of three doses of the vaccine, Naomi suffered convulsions, severe back and neck pain, and lost her ability to walk.

Doctors actually diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis, which was later retracted and labeled a neurological reaction to the vaccine.

Seven other women, who say they have suffered various physical problems, including anaphylaxis and miscarriage, after receiving Gardasil may also join the civil lawsuit, and this is likely only the beginning, as Gardasil is being implicated in a growing number of serious, permanent and sometimes deadly adverse reactions."

To read more of this article go to www.Mercola.com and type  213 Women Who Took This Suffered Permanent Disability into the search bar.

I have written about vaccines before in this blog, and am glad to see this lawsuit happening because I think will raise awareness and eventually lead people to be much more aware about the hidden dangers of vaccines. 

A Votre Sante (Here's To Your Health), Alix

The Future of Food--A MUST SEE MOVIE ON NETFLIX

I just finished watching part of the movie, The Future of Food.  I had to stop and take a break, because I have come to understand a very sobering truth.  The public at large has been passively standing by while more GMO foods are being introduced for human consumption. There is outrage in Europe over GM foods but only a small (yet very strong) presence of activists here.  However, I think the U.S. will soon reach a tipping point whereby information about the dangers of GMO foods goes mainstream.  The Japanese at large are very concerned about GMOs, and when a trade representative in the food industry in Japan says, "We will watch the children in the United States for the next 10 years," Houston, we have a problem.

This is an absolute must-see movie.  There are interviews of farmers who have been sued and taken to the cleaners by Monsanto for "breaking it's patents"--when Monsanto crops contaminated the farmers' crops.  In Canada the Supreme Court made a farmer destroy his own seeds, cultivated for generations because Monsanto crops contaminated the farmer's seeds via the wind therefore"he was violating a patent."  The farmer also lost his retirement ($200,000) in lawyers fees.  This year, however, 270,000 organic farmers have collectively filed suit against Monsanto to protect themselves from this kind of abuse.

There is an explanation of how viruses, bacteria, and antibiotic genes are forced into plant cells--the GMOs are basically a biological experiment when about 75% of the items at a regular grocery store contain GM ingredients. (There is more information in my previous post about GMOs)

97% of the vegetables grown at the beginning of the 20th century are now extinct as the food system has become industrialized.  Monsanto is pushing to own patents on more seeds, and they already own many of the pesticides that industrial farming is now dependent upon.  Monsanto controls a lot of the seeds, hence food, yet GMOs have never been voted on by the people or Congress.  Lack of government regulation in addition to millions in lobbying allows them to do so.  A line from the movie states, "The U.S. pesticide industry bought the seed industry."

There is a movement in the U.S. to label GMOs, whether or not it passes, I am not going to eat them. 

A Votre Sante,  (Here's to Your Health,) Alix

21 uses for Coca Cola other than Drinking It

Dr. Mercola recently did an article on soda saying that many colas contain aspartame, which is linked to "headaches, insomnia, memory loss, GI tract disorders, loss of energy, depression, and even seizures."  He also talked about the connection between high fructose corn syrup and "diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, increase in LDL cholesterol, and liver abnormalities."  Also HFCS tends to come from GMO corn.

Well, now that I don't drink soda, I really miss it--Coke was part of my childhood during holidays and summer BBQs.  For those of you who still love your soda, here are some other ways (rather than drinking it) that you can enjoy your Coke.

On the internet I saw Coke used for unclogging drains, de-icing windshields, cleaning toilets, removing rust from chrome bumpers and knives, cleaning bug and road film off windshields, removing grease and asphalt from clothes, and cleaning blood spills.

Also Coke was used for carpet stains, cleaning tile grout, cleaning a tea kettle and pans, removing oil stains from the driveway, and gum in hair.  If you absolutely must drink it, try it in small amounts--it is great for nausea and congestion.

Next time you need it, try Coke for powering a battery for a TV, cleaning ancient coins, relieving a jellyfish sting, greener grass, suntan lotion (regular coke only) and softer skin, and cleaning the outside of your submarine.

Well, there are 21 reasons to stock up on Coke! 

A Votre Sante, (Here's to Your Health), Alix

Flu Vaccine vs. EpiCor

My previous post was about side effects from the HPV vaccine, and today I received an article in Mercola's Newsletter that says,  "A study published in the prestigious journal The Lancet revealed that flu shots provide only “moderate protection” against the flu, and in some seasons is altogether 'reduced or absent.'  Specifically, the Lancet said the vaccine is about 59 percent effective. But when you break the numbers down statistically, what it really works out to is that the vaccine prevents flu 1.5 times out of 100.   That’s right. Using the Lancet’s own numbers, statistics show that the vaccine only works 1.5 times out of 100."

I have not yet talked about EpiCor yet on this blog.  This is the name of a dried yeast fermentate that I have taken for several years.  I purchase it at Vitamin Research (www.vrp.com).  EpiCor is a natural product that doesn't adversely affect the balance of flora in the digestive tract because the yeast is dead.  Lab studies show that EpiCor decreases allergies, protects against the flu, and balances the immune system.

Within a week of taking EpiCor, I noticed my allergies were reduced remarkably, and my occurrence of sinus infections dropped dramatically.  I used to have chronic sinusitis (sinus infections several times a year).  With EpiCor they dropped to once a year (from 3), and in the last year I have had none, which I attribute to the EpiCor and also the protocol I am on for Adrenal Fatigue, which I have discussed in prior posts, as well as eating organic foods.

I have not had the flu since I have been on EpiCor. (4 years)  EpiCor has been studied in a lab, and it boosts NK cells in the lungs (mucus membranes) 400 percent.  There are no side effects, except that it helps prevent cancer because it harmonizes the ratio of different components in the immune system, not just amps up NK cells.  It balances rather than overstimulates the immune system.

EpiCor was originally a yeast fermentate used in high performance race horse food.  The workers in the factory were breathing in the dust from the fermentate and many were reporting they hadn't been sick in years.  Since then studies were done to validate the findings, and the fermentate was upgraded with added selenium and production in a food-grade facility.  Get more details about EpiCor at www.distance-healer.com/27.html.

A Votre Sante (Here's to Your Health), Alix