All Organic Seeds Now Appear to Be Contaminated With Genetically Modified Crops]

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All Organic Seeds Now Appear to Be Contaminated With Genetically

Modified Crops 5/23/01

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.mercola.com/2001/may/23/gm_crops.htm

 

All Organic Seeds Now

Appear to Be Contaminated With Genetically Modified Crops

 

 

Cropchoice News

 

That was the gist of declarations by two

organic agriculture organizations to describe the effect of transgenic

crop production on organic farming. As is the case with conventional

soy, corn, and canola, organic crops

have tested positive for the presence of foreign genetic material

because of cross-pollination, seed stock contamination. The inability

to segregate transgenic crops from their organic and conventional

counterparts during harvest, handling, transport and milling is also

responsible for contamination.

 

The Organic Federation of Australia

declared that contamination from transgenic crops in the United States

has spread to such a degree that it cannot verify the purity of

imported organic ingredients.

 

Farm Verified Organic seconded that

assertion. A press release from the North Dakota certification agency

stated: "the GM pollution of

American commodities is now so pervasive, we believe it is not possible

for farmers in North America to source seed free from it."

 

"The widespread adoption of GM crops in the

U.S. makes it difficult to ensure that grain is not being contaminated

with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as it is handled and

transported from the field to the end customer. Industry insiders even

question whether the foundation (parent) seed for non-GM varieties can

meet a 1% purity level," according to the November 2000 edition of

Farmindustrynews.com.

 

David Gould, a member of the certification

committee of Farm Verified Organic, discussed the contamination

situation with Cropchoice in

February.

 

"Our investigations thus far from the 2000

harvest lead us to believe that virtually all of the seed corn in the United states is contaminated

with at least a trace of genetically engineered material,

and often more," Gould said. "Even the organic lots are showing traces

of biotech varieties."

 

He pointed out the now familiar StarLink

corn fiasco. Iowa farmers planted 1 percent of their crop with

StarLink. By harvest time, 50 percent registered positive for the

genetically engineered variety.

 

Since his preferred option of a ban on

transgenic crops probably won't happen soon, Gould favors establishment

of a maximum tolerance level for genetically modified organisms in

organic crops. Currently, there is no universal standard. In the case

of corn, he said that if organic certifiers insisted on 0 percent

contamination, "we shouldn't certify any corn."

 

At the same time, he worries that

propagating transgenic crops year after year will lead to the presence

of more and more foreign genes in organic and conventional varieties.

This in turn, would mean raising the tolerance levels. Whether the

organic stamp of approval would then become something of a joke is open

to debate.

But one should remember that organic

standards have to do with production, not purity, said Annie

Kirschenmann, of Farm Verified Organic. This

means that testing for any kind of residue, be it from pesticide or

genetic drift, is not part of determining whether to certify a farm as

organic.

Cropchoice.com

May 1, 2001

 

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

 

Well here we have it, the first

suggestion that this is the beginning of the end for pure food crops.

It appears that nearly all the organic seeds have some level of

contamination with genetically modified crops.

Let me repeat one of the above

statements:

Farm Verified Organic seconded that

assertion. A press release from the North Dakota certification agency

stated: "the GM pollution of American commodities is now so pervasive,

we believe it is not possible for farmers in North America to source

seed free from it."

This is incredible.

We will need to maximize our efforts to

stay healthy to resist the nearly inevitable deterioration on our

health that these crops will have.

If you don't believe that there is a

problem with genetically modified crops, please review the links below.

Related

Articles:

 

Hazards

of Genetically Engineered Food

Oppose

FDA's New Regulations on Genetically Engineered Food

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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