Saturday, April 2, 2011

Hot off the www

The letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has been posted on dozens of websites ranging from the Huffington Post to obscure gardening and food blogs, generating discussion on message boards about the controversial topic of genetically modified crops and their potential effect on animals and humans.
But other scientists (funded by the bio tech industry) say they have no way to verify professor emeritus Don Huber's claims because he won't provide evidence to back them up.

"People in the scientific community have at times made outlandish claims (Like the tobacco industy scientists claims of product safety for instance?) but it's been based on research that was flawed in some way, but at least the data was provided to be analyzed and critiqued," said Bob Hartzler, an Iowa State University agronomy professor who called the letter "extremely unusual, especially coming from the scientific community."

Huber, 76, wrote the letter to Vilsack in January, warning of a new organism he claims has been found in corn and soybeans modified to resist the weed killer Roundup.

Huber wrote that the organism could lead to a "general collapse of our critical agriculture infrastructure" and further approval of Roundup Ready crops "could be a calamity."

(Im not even thinking GMO's are a set up for an engineered famine in the US....Just like the one in the Ukraine that killed between 7 and 10,000,000 goyim... its just real convienient...and total serendipity a bonus)

Monsantos creation and use of agent Orange in Viet Nan was a proving ground for the idea that destruction of crops and covert genocide would be accepted by the world just like it was in the Ukraine..... Which the US and other nations are now being set up for.. 

Huber told The Associated Press the organism that concerned him was found in much higher concentrations in corn and soybeans grown from so-called Roundup Ready seeds than in grains grown from conventional seed, although the samples of conventional crops tested were too small to get a reliable result.

Huber believes the pathogen has made genetically modified soybeans more susceptible to sudden death syndrome and corn to Goss' wilt. He also claims it's linked to spontaneous abortions and infertility in livestock that eat feed generated from those crops.

Huber said he wrote the letter to Vilsack because he thought the U.S. Department of Agriculture needed to take immediate action and provide resources to further research his claims. He said he doesn't know how it reached the Internet.

Huber said he sent the letter through a third party so it could be hand-delivered to Vilsack.

The USDA acknowledged it had received the letter, but it doesn't appear USDA is investigating the matter.

"It has been confirmed that no letter addressed to Secretary Vilsack from Dr. Huber has been received "directly" by USDA," the agency said in a statement to the AP. "The only copy we received was forwarded by a third party, and we do not respond to third-party letters." The USDA declined to comment beyond that statement.

Monsanto,(Web search for legal actions against this fine company and their products) the St. Louis-based company that developed Roundup resistant seeds, said in a statement it was "not aware of any "reliable" studies that demonstrate Roundup Ready crops are more susceptible to certain diseases. (Not aware= ignores/denies )
GM crops have undergone a rigorous safety assessment following internationally accepted guidelines,(set by international industry) and no verifiable cases of harm to human or animal health have occurred." thus sayeth Monsanto...who can always be trusted to put the public safety over profit.. just like the makers of agent orange, tobacco, trans-fats, fake sugars, food dyes, asbestos, xrays and other radiation caused no "verifiable harm"

Huber's letter identifies himself as a retired Purdue professor, and it has left the Indiana university known for its agriculture programs in the uncomfortable position of being linked to research it can't verify.

"This is not Purdue research being carried on by people at Purdue University," said Peter Goldsbrough, director of the university's plant pathology department.

Goldsbrough said Huber declined to provide evidence supporting his claims or the names of his research partners.

"If someone is making a new discovery, they normally want someone to know about it and if this was an important environmental or agricultural problem, you would want to engage other people in finding what the causes of the problems are," he said. "I don't know what would be gained by not sharing."
Goldsbrough said nothing is being done to strip Huber of his association with Purdue.

Huber, who now lives in Melba, Idaho, said he started his research at Purdue and continued it in collaboration with other scientists in the Midwest, Florida, Brazil and Canada after retiring in 2006. He declined to name the other scientists, saying they asked to remain anonymous because the attention would distract from the research. (they would lose funding from agribusiness or be fired)

Huber acknowledged he was taking an unusual approach by not submitting his finding for other scientists to review. "The information on the new organism was new enough that there wasn't time for peer-reviewed papers and that it was serious enough I felt it was very important the secretary know what the situation was and that they exercise some caution before moving forward," Huber said.
The USDA, meanwhile, has moved ahead with an expansion of biotech crops.
In January, the USDA deregulated alfalfa and in February it partially deregulated sugar beets that have been genetically modified to withstand Roundup, which contains a chemical called glyphosate.
Paul Vincelli, a plant pathology professor at the University of Kentucky, said he talked with Huber last fall after he was asked to review a Kentucky researcher's work on the same topic. Vincelli declined to identify the Kentucky researcher, (which is now OK because he isn't Huber or rocking the boat) saying his review was a private consultation, but he said he has seen no evidence to support Huber's claims linking a new pathogen to crop diseases or animal fertility. (then he contradicts himself in  the next sentence)

Vincelli said while research has shown the use of glyphosate may make some plants more susceptible to disease, (which does support Hubers claim) he is not aware of evidence of a new pathogen that increases that risk as Huber claims.

Vincelli said Huber is highly distinguished and well respected in the scientific community but said his recent work was "highly speculative."

( Meaning it contradicts agribusiness and monsanto claims of safety... like hand washing contradicted the once common pratice of surgons and doctors not washing their hands or instruments because they didn't accept contagion thoery....and that wasn't so long ago was it?)
 
"I'm not saying the claims are true or false. What we need is really good science on this issue," Vincelli said. "We're talking about extraordinary claims, and we need at least ordinary evidence in support of these claims."

(and we hear from the other side of his mouth.........Again)

1 comment:

  1. this is extremely scary stuff, the fact that once again money and the making of it comes over the welfare and safety of US the consumer

    ReplyDelete