New GMO threat emerges Source VIDEO This time, it’s the omnipresent Monsanto herbicide Roundup, their trade name for a chemical formally known as glyphosphate.
The world has become dependent on genetically modified crops, and Monsanto engineers theirs to be resistant to the broad-spectrum plant killing chemical, the theory being that the secret to profitable agriculture is to design plants to survive a chemical that kills every leafy competitor [aka “weeds”].
But what if the very technology that’s been hailed as an agricultural panacea may turn out to be our biggest nightmare, creating a breeding ground for a virulent pathogen that threatens not only the GMO crops but other plants?
And what if the same pathogen is also suspected of creating deformities and spontaneous abortions in animals, and possibly even that one we value more than all others, Homo sapiens?
But that’s just the specter that’s being raised by a government plant disease specialist with very impressive credentials.
What strikes us as especially ominous is that the newly discovered pathogen poses a unique threat precisely because of the shape modern industrial agriculture has taken.
From the earliest days of agriculture, farmers typically planted a wide variety of crops, with a great range of cultivars of the same basic food type which were adapted to a wide variety of environments.
But industrial agriculture relies on consistency, a condition rarely found in nature. To create that consistency, farmers now plant a very limited range of crops — increasingly those cooked up in genetic labs — then followup with an endless barrage of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, consuming increasingly scarce chemicals — phosphorous being one of the major necessities.
Modern farming consumes vast amounts of fossil fuels, both in fuels needed to make and power the machinery needed to plant, treat, harvest, and haul food crops and in the ammonia-based fertilizers, which are derived from natural gas.
But the vast scale of modern monoculture renders the world’s food supply exceptionally vulnerable should a disease arise that thrives in precisely those conditions on which the precarious farming disease has come to depend.
And it’s just that possibility that led Don M. Huber to write an urgent letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
A widely published specialist in plant nutrition and pathology and an emeritus professor from Purdue University, Huber is the coordinator of the American Phytopathological Society’s Committee on Emergent Diseases and Pathogens under the Department of Agriculture’s National Plant Disease Recovery System.
The text of the letter is available here [PDF warning].
It speaks for itself: A team of senior plant and animal scientists have recently brought to my attention the discovery of an electron microscopic pathogen that appears to significantly impact the health of plants, animals, and probably human beings. Based on a review of the data, it is widespread, very serious, and is in much higher concentrations in Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans and corn—suggesting a link with the RR gene or more likely the presence of Roundup. This organism appears NEW to science!
This is highly sensitive information that could result in a collapse of US soy and corn export markets and significant disruption of domestic food and feed supplies. On the other hand, this new organism may already be responsible for significant harm (see below). My colleagues and I are therefore moving our investigation forward with speed and discretion, and seek assistance from the USDA and other entities to identify the pathogen’s source, prevalence, implications, and remedies.
We are informing the USDA of our findings at this early stage, specifically due to your pending decision regarding approval of RR alfalfa. Naturally, if either the RR gene or Roundup itself is a promoter or co-factor of this pathogen, then such approval could be a calamity. Based on the current evidence, the only reasonable action at this time would be to delay deregulation at least until sufficient data has exonerated the RR system, if it does.
For the past 40 years, I have been a scientist in the professional and military agencies that evaluate and prepare for natural and manmade biological threats, including germ warfare and disease outbreaks. Based on this experience, I believe the threat we are facing from this pathogen is unique and of a high risk status. In layman’s terms, it should be treated as an emergency.
A diverse set of researchers working on this problem have contributed various pieces of the puzzle, which together presents the following disturbing scenario:
Unique Physical Properties This previously unknown organism is only visible under an electron microscope (36,000X), with an approximate size range equal to a medium size virus. It is able to reproduce and appears to be a micro-fungal-like organism. If so, it would be the first such micro-fungus ever identified. There is strong evidence that this infectious agent promotes diseases of both plants and mammals, which is very rare.
Pathogen Location and Concentration It is found in high concentrations in Roundup Ready soybean meal and corn, distillers meal, fermentation feed products, pig stomach contents, and pig and cattle placentas.
Linked with Outbreaks of Plant Disease The organism is prolific in plants infected with two pervasive diseases that are driving down yields and farmer income—sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soy, and Goss’ wilt in corn. The pathogen is also found in the fungal causative agent of SDS (Fusarium solani fsp glycines).
Implicated in Animal Reproductive Failure Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of this organism in a wide variety of livestock that have experienced spontaneous abortions and infertility. Preliminary results from ongoing research have also been able to reproduce abortions in a clinical setting.
The pathogen may explain the escalating frequency of infertility and spontaneous abortions over the past few years in US cattle, dairy, swine, and horse operations. These include recent reports of infertility rates in dairy heifers of over 20%, and spontaneous abortions in cattle as high as 45%.
For example, 450 of 1,000 pregnant heifers fed wheatlage experienced spontaneous abortions. Over the same period, another 1,000 heifers from the same herd that were raised on hay had no abortions. High concentrations of the pathogen were confirmed on the wheatlage, which likely had been under weed management using glyphosate.
Recommendations In summary, because of the high titer of this new animal pathogen in Round Ready crops,[sic] and its association with plant and animal diseases that are reaching epidemic proportions, we request USDA’s participation in a multi-agency investigation, and an immediate moratorium on the deregulation of RR crops until the causal/predisposing relationship with glyphosate and/or RR plants can be ruled out as a threat to crop and animal production and human health.
It is urgent to examine whether the side-effects of glyphosate use may have facilitated the growth of this pathogen, or allowed it to cause greater harm to weakened plant and animal hosts. It is well-documented that glyphosate promotes soil pathogens and is already implicated with the increase of more than 40 plant diseases; it dismantles plant defenses by chelating vital nutrients; and it reduces the bioavailability of nutrients in feed, which in turn can cause animal disorders. To properly evaluate these factors, we request access to the relevant USDA data.
I have studied plant pathogens for more than 50 years. We are now seeing an unprecedented trend of increasing plant and animal diseases and disorders. This pathogen may be instrumental to understanding and solving this problem. It deserves immediate attention with significant resources to avoid a general collapse of our critical agricultural infrastructure.
Sincerely,
COL (Ret.) Don M. Huber
Emeritus Professor, Purdue University
APS Coordinator, USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System (NPDRS)
The threat appears to be real, and the potential consequences could be catastrophic.
For more, see this well-illustrated post by Jeffrey M. Smith at Natural News, “Monsanto’s Roundup Triggers Over 40 Plant Diseases and Endangers Human and Animal Health.”
Rady Ananda at Food Freedom has written a parallel piece, “Scientists warn of link between dangerous new pathogen and Monsanto’s Roundup.”
From the Organic and Non-GMO report, see this interview with microbiologist Robert Kremer who serves with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and teaches in the Division of Plant Sciences at the University of Missouri: “Scientist finding many negative impacts of Roundup Ready GM crops, USDA doesn’t want to publicize studies showing negative impacts.”
Shocking legal twist burdens farmers with cost of damages Finally, and perhaps most ominously, consider this post and accompanying video from Cassandra Anderson at MORPHcity: Farmers like genetically modified (GM) crops because they can plant them, spray them with herbicide and then there is very little maintenance until harvest. Farmers who plant Monsanto’s GM crops probably don’t realize what they bargain for when they sign the Monsanto Technology Stewardship Agreement contract. One farmer reportedly ‘went crazy’ when he discovered the scope of the contract because it transfers ALL liability to the farmer or grower.
Here is the paragraph that defines Monsanto’s limit of liability that shifts it to the farmer: “GROWER’S EXCLUSIVE LIMITED REMEDY: THE EXCLUSIVE REMEDY OF THE GROWER AND THE LIMIT OF THE LIABILITY OF MONSANTO OR ANY SELLER FOR ANY AND ALL LOSSES, INJURY OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OR HANDLING OF SEED (INCLUDING CLAIMS BASED IN CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, PRODUCT LIABILITY, STRICT LIABILITY, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) SHALL BE THE PRICE PAID BY THE GROWER FOR THE QUANTITY OF THE SEED INVOLVED OR, AT THE ELECTION OF MONSANTO OR THE SEED SELLER, THE REPLACEMENT OF THE SEED. IN NO EVENT SHALL MONSANTO OR ANY SELLER BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES.”
