Scientists warn of link between dangerous new pathogen and Monsanto’s Roundup

A plant pathologist experienced in protecting against biological warfare recently warned the USDA of a new, self-replicating, micro-fungal virus-sized organism which may be causing spontaneous abortions in livestock, sudden death syndrome in Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soy, and wilt in Monsanto’s RR corn.

Dr. Don M. Huber, who coordinates the Emergent Diseases and Pathogens committee of the American Phytopathological Society, as part of the USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System, warned Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that this pathogen threatens the US food and feed supply and can lead to the collapse of the US corn and soy export markets. Likewise, deregulation of GE alfalfa “could be a calamity,” he noted in his letter (reproduced in full below).

snip

On Feb. 16, Paul Tukey of SafeLawn telephoned Dr. Huber who told him, “I believe we’ve reached the tipping point toward a potential disaster with the safety of our food supply. The abuse, or call it over use if you will, of Roundup, is having profoundly bad consequences in the soil. We’ve seen that for years. The appearance of this new pathogen may be a signal that we’ve gone too far.”

Tukey also conveyed that while Huber admits that much further study is needed to definitively confirm the link between Round-Up and the pathogen, “In the meantime, he said, it’s grossly irresponsible of the government to allow Roundup Ready alfalfa, which would bring the widespread spraying of Roundup to millions of more acres and introduce far more Roundup into the food supply.”

http://www.activistpost.com/2011/02/scientists-warn-of-link-between.html

oh crap

use less roundup

nt

Okay, so there hasn't been any in-depth study into the alleged correlation of the "micro-fungal virus-sized" pathogen and its potential causes, fine.

A more likely cause of the organism's appearance, which is stated in the article, is the irresponsible use of Roundup, not the GM alfalfa.

not that they produce it.

or am I misunderstanding the whole thing

But that isn't a failing of the GM crop or the methods used to create it. It is a failing of the farmers and a failing of Monsanto for marketing it to be used in that way.

it all goes together. Of course, we are all going to die. But I don't think Monsanto has the right to determine when or how, so they can make a bigger profit.

I believe we’ve reached the tipping point toward a potential disaster with the safety of our food supply. The abuse, or call it over use if you will, of Roundup, is having profoundly bad consequences in the soil. We’ve seen that for years. The appearance of this new pathogen may be a signal that we’ve gone too far.”

So he "believes" this is a response to roundup. It "may be" a signal we've gone too far.

Basically this is a bad thing, something must be to blame, we've been using these chemicals for a while now, must be them.

The EXACT same argument as used to prove autism is caused by vaccines.

They shouldn't print this sensationalist rubbish. Do the study first, then come to a conclusion.

That there is a sound scientific basis for the assertion that the overuse of Roundup is the cause of the organism's proliferation. Glyphosate, the herbicide, of roundup is a well known promoter of fungal and microbial growth. It is quite opposite from the vaccine/autism nonsense which as been shot down over and over in peer reviewed journals.

But yeah, sensationalist crap until it is supported by some solid science.

saying "it stands to reason that . . . " is not an answer. It must be tested.

But the connection between glyphosate and fungal and microbial growth is established and is the current obvious trigger.

but they shouldn't publish articles that seem to state conclusively this is the cause based on that connection alone.

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to prove their crap was safe.......

they were growing genetically mutant crapola crops...

So there you have it.

It's because you plan to use RoundUp.

And then, there are still questions about the GM products themselves. I mean, the tobacco companies did so well in telling the truth about tobacco use. It's about the bottom line. Can we have truly independent testing of such things when now, even our universities depend on sponsoring corporations?

...and use it to kill weeds, dandelions and other stuff they don't want growing on their lawns.

I don't know how much of a problem the 'average-Joe' use of Roundup is, but it is adding to the
problem, obviously.

It's pretty sad that there are so many questions about Roundup, and widespread use could be very
dangerous--yet anyone can buy this stuff in small bottles and soak their lawns with it.

Rio Grande Valley 15 years ago. We had an unusual spike in microcephaly and anencephaly births in humans. Took them forever to figure out it was a fungus on corn products, if I remember correctly.

It doesn't surprise me that this new one could cause spontaneous abortion in livestock. How long before it is in the human population?

If not...we're fucked! They are in the process of destroying the world's food supply by idiotic schemes to privatize it.

the problem in this story is the irresponsible use of the RR gene and its promotion which caused further irresponsible use of roundup.

There is new evidence that the GM crops themselves are harmful to eat. The increased use of pesticides and the threat to biodiversity all add up to no good. Lot's of horror stories from farmers who have had to deal with Monsanto. Farmers in India are committing suicide in increasing numbers.

Monsanto is very evil and very dangerous.

Be specific when you are talking about scientific topics. Which crops, which modifications.

There was a recent study, but I'll have to dig out some links.

I have to head off to work, so I can't do it right now.

that is not what "roundup ready" means. It means that they have a gene that makes them resistant to the herbicide in roundup.

More to follow later on the health hazards of the GMO foods that are produced. I gotta go to work.

http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/impacts_genetic_engineering/roundup-ready-soybeans.html

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/february192011/monsanto-coffin.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/business/energy-environment/04weed.html?pagewanted=all

<snip>
“It is the single largest threat to production agriculture that we have ever seen,” said Andrew Wargo III, the president of the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts.

The first resistant species to pose a serious threat to agriculture was spotted in a Delaware soybean field in 2000. Since then, the problem has spread, with 10 resistant species in at least 22 states infesting millions of acres, predominantly soybeans, cotton and corn.

The superweeds could temper American agriculture’s enthusiasm for some genetically modified crops. Soybeans, corn and cotton that are engineered to survive spraying with Roundup have become standard in American fields. However, if Roundup doesn’t kill the weeds, farmers have little incentive to spend the extra money for the special seeds.

Don't believe everything that you think.

The plants DO NOT produce roundup. They are resistant to it.

I don't recall claiming that the crap produces roundup. I know all about this stuff. It will destroy the biodiversity of the plant life on this planet.

I don't know how anyone can defend these predator corporations or believe anything they have to say.

I'm defending the technology and the GM foods which are the only way we will be able to survive on a changing planet.

..."defending the corporation". Setting aside "the technology", the only 'change' on the horizon, is the 'corporatization' of the food supply.

'Grow yer own...' you think. Even if you found some uncontaminated soil, planted and grew a seed, you would still be guilty of patent infringement or theft.

Be careful who your 'friends' are.

.

That isn't a failing of the crop, it is a failing of the farmers for overuse of roundup and of the corporation for marketing it in they way they do.

Then, when you apply Round-Up to the crop, it doesn't die from glysophate poisoning. The gene is not itself toxic, and the crops produced from that field do not accumulate Round-Up in their tissues.

they're beyond "just a typical greedy corp" in my opinion

http://www.oakhurstdairy.com/about/release.php?nID=1133

I haven't seen it listed anywhere in the article by any sort of scientific name which would allow for more research on it's background.

Has it been isolated in a lab?

Has it been tested on various strains of crops in controlled conditions to show that it does indeed cause the disease seen in the fields?

Has it been tested on livestock under controlled conditions to show it does indeed cause abortions?

A virus-sized fungus would be the smallest form of life know (since a virus isn't considered to be truly alive) and would at the very least get the lab that found it nationwide attention, if not a Nobel Prize in science.

This would be HUGE on it's own in the world of science even if it didn't cause any infections. Why can't I find any published papers by anyone describing this new form of life?

I'd like to see a paper on this shit in a peer-reviewed publication.

I wouldn't put it past nature though to break the rules on what we think is "alive".

I was just reading about Nanoarchaeum equitans, and it's pretty fucking small. The only thing smaller are the alleged forms of life, nanobacteria and nanobes.

Both of those however, are not exactly supported by a lot of evidence, and sound like bunk.

N. equitans is definitely alive and has a confirmed existence.

Just fear the evil mutant plants containing dreaded DNA and let your panic think for you.

Now let's grab some grab some pitchforks and torches and kill all the GM crops.

Not! :puke:

on people who overwhelmingly recognize the Profound Dangers, and overwhelmingly do not want it?

We will all suffer. Monsanto is EVIL.

Annette

Nothing we grow commercially is the same as it was before we started "playing god". And that isn't limited to GM crops.

Go try to hunt down a wild broccoli plant some time.

If you have any background in science, you know that.

When turning something like this out, better to ere on the side of caution. These GM products, which were born to save the world from starvation have done nothing to alleviate food shortages.

AND... remember,

but both would fall under "playing god".

So it's not so much our role as god that people have a problem with, but certain aspects of that.

Gene Splicing is NOT the same a Selective Breeding.
Mother Nature, in all her wisdom, made it impossible for some things to "combine".

Not a funny situation at all. The bees are dead, you can't get real seed. It's life out of balance and there's no opposition to it here.

You can't get real seed: false.

It's life out of balance: if we're going with "out of balance" = "mankind has tampered with" then yes, but it's been like that for a while.

that never existed on their own and cannot exist without our help.

It isn't monsanto pushing this line, its common sense and a basic understanding of science.

And "mother nature" has no wisdom. It's an abstract concept we've invented, not a real thing.

I can put a tomato and a fish in my barn overnight,
and NOTHING will get "combined".

You have to prove that such a combination is dangerous to justify these fears.

We've been using these crops for decades with no adverse affects. People have been injecting GM insulin directly in to their veins for quite a while now too (doesn't naturally come from bacteria).

What exactly are you afraid of? Specifics please, rather than more "monsanto is the devil" rhetoric.

My wife recently combined a quite nice tomato-based sauce and some salmon...

What really stands out to me in the OP is that the "famous scientist" isn't quoted at all, it is all second-hand. We don't have a proven problem, much less a proven source of that problem.

Everybody could see that your position was a FAIL.

NOW.
I don't have to prove that gene splicing/GM foods are unsafe.
YOU & Monsanto have to prove that they ARE safe before unleashing them on the World, something that hasn't been done satisfactorily to date.

I can point to numerous examples of unintended consequences produced by Invasive Species.
Everything created in the lab IS an Invasive Species.
In the case of Monsanto, there is a potential for Global Consequences.
Already we have numerous instances of Monsanto GM stock escaping containment and cross contaminating crops.

The Africanized Honey Bee was a product of Selective Breeding.
Despite the security/containment precautions, the Africanized Bee escaped containment through an unforeseen accident....and now we have a disaster.
Gene Splicing has the potential to produce a disaster many magnitudes GREATER in scale.

"Whatever CAN go wrong, will go wrong."

How many times in the past have people been reassured that something was "perfectly safe"?
THAT is the SAME argument you are using today.
Thalidomide anyone?

Never did.

"Everybody could see that your position was a FAIL."

Nope.

"I don't have to prove that gene splicing/GM foods are unsafe."

Indeed, it seems even if they are proven safe via decades of constant use with no ill effects your are unmoved in your stance.

"YOU & Monsanto have to prove that they ARE safe before unleashing them on the World, something that hasn't been done satisfactorily to date."

They have been tested. They haven't been proven to YOUR satisfaction because your standard starts with "the test must prove GM is literally the devil incarnate or else it is a sham".

"I can point to numerous examples of unintended consequences produced by Invasive Species."

My god, Monsanto invented invasive species? Are there any depths to which they will not sink?

"Everything created in the lab IS an Invasive Species."

Which is why we've been overrun by GM corn. You do realize our crops have been bred down in every significant area EXCEPT for yields? They are more susceptible to disease, drought, flood, fungi, etc etc etc than their wild cousins and cannot compete with the weeds without intensive labor. Giving them a few traits like disease resistance is bringing them somewhat closer to what weeds in the wild are already doing. We aren't producing super-powerful invasive species that will take over the world: we're producing weaklings that are slightly less weak than before. Don't believe me? Plant some GM corn, then do nothing. Don't tend to it at all. See if it wins out over the weeds.

"In the case of Monsanto, there is a potential for Global Consequences."

Indeed, large sections of the worlds surface may be plowed up and used for monoculture farming for the first time in history! Imagine the impact that would have.


"Already we have numerous instances of Monsanto GM stock escaping containment and cross contaminating crops."

No we don't. You make it sound like jurassic park. Most of those cases when examined turned out that the farmers stole the seed and lied so they wouldn't get in trouble. In the cases where there is legitimate cross contamination it remains A) within the same species of human grown crops and B) still weaker than the surrounding weeds. It's like a geriatric patient escaping his bounds and running rampant. Most likely he'll be dead without care soon, so is the general populace really at risk?

"The Africanized Honey Bee was a product of Selective Breeding."

Weird, I thought selective breeding was OK and harmless.

"Despite the security/containment precautions, the Africanized Bee escaped containment through an unforeseen accident....and now we have a disaster."

No we don't. Lay off the hysteria for a bit. It's moved in to the states and outcompeted the european honeybee. That's all. They aren't even that bad if you stay well away from them (worked in an apiary in Texas for a year, I know what africanized bees are and what they aren't).


"Gene Splicing has the potential to produce a disaster many magnitudes GREATER in scale."

Well with that kind of capslock it's sure to be at least one, possible 1.5 Michael Bay movies in scale.


""Whatever CAN go wrong, will go wrong.""

Which if we followed your suggestions here would mean we never build a single car, or bridge, or plane, or plant one acre of crops, or use fire, or stone tools, etc etc etc.

"How many times in the past have people been reassured that something was "perfectly safe"?"

Precisely 17 times in the past. 13 of those times it was ok.

"THAT is the SAME argument you are using today."

Yeah heaven forbid we try new things and then test them and then implement them if it works out. I assume then you want nothing to change from some arbitrary point you've set as 'ideal'.

"Thalidomide anyone?"

Wasn't tested.

Penicillin anyone? How do we know exactly what this newfangled DRUG will do when administered to MILLIONS of people WORLDWIDE by BIG PHARMA? Huh?!??! How can we know exactly what it'll do? We don't. Likely it'll crossbreed with aspirin and make some sort of super-franken-drug and take over the world. IT'S REVELATIONS PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ONEONEONEONEONE

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Just google "horizontal gene transfer" and you'll find many examples of very different species swapping genes in the same way we currently genetically engineer crops.

Here's just one example that has been found recently: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/14/gonorrhea-steals-our-dna_n_823092.html

"According to WIRED Magazine, researchers at Northwestern University have found the first-ever example of the direct transfer of a piece of human DNA to a bacterial genome.

In a report to be published in mBio, scientists report that the Gonorrhea bacteria had stolen a sequence of DNA bases from a DNA element found in humans."

everything was as it always was until Monsanto invented genes and started putting them in our FOOD supply!

Being a GMO fanboi and all. Read this article, then dismiss it as bullshit, and tell me how Monsanto fucking rules.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1082559/The-GM-genocide-Thousands-Indian-farmers-committing-suicide-using-genetically-modified-crops.html

they argue against the SCIENCE of genetic engineering by citing the BUSINESS POLICIES of Monsanto.

GM is evil because Monsanto is evil and they employ it.

Like saying vaccines don't work because big-pharma employs less than scrupulous business practices. Or the basic laws of chemistry aren't true because DuPont is evil.

I'm arguing the science: GM won't cause you to mutate if you eat it, it won't bring about the end of the world, these crops aren't going to outcompete the weeds.

And all you have to counter is the flawed business practices of one company that utilizes this science.

Just curious.

First off they are only likely to cross pollinate with related species, not any plant out there indiscriminately. Second for any chance cross pollination to be sustained and pervasive in the environment these would need to be traits that are survival oriented. The ones concerning yields are not, those covering disease/chemical resistance are largely already covered in the wild populations. Remember, our crops are weaklings compared to wild species. We're giving them a crutch is all. So we're giving them disease resistance (for instance) comparable to what the weeds they have to compete with already have. So it's not like some novel combination of supergenes that are somehow going to wipe out all competing forms.

And third: we've got it covered. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault

There are concerns with these things, mostly covering monopolization and property rights issues. Those are completely legitimate concerns. However they are unrelated to the science. Those can be settled by lawyers and politicians, not scientists and technicians.

That explains a lot.

and we're coming to get you!

Lame response on your part.

I offered you a well thought out rebuttal and all you could do is offer some lame insult. BTW: by 'we' I meant scientists in general. I don't work on crops or genetically engineering anything (my work is in conventional breeding). But we often have to present a united front against the torch wielding uneducated luddites.

Don't forget the pitchforks.

I got my info directly from farmers who have been destroyed by Monsanto. I think I'll believe my eyes and ears rather than shills for predator corporations.

Thanks anyway though. :smoke:

you should ignore the scientists and go ask a farmer.

I have some tax questions to ask, are you by any chance a well-digger?

do you have any science-background whatsoever?

And creating weeds and bugs that are immune to the effects of RoundUp.

More needless human stupidity.