No GMO: UK to Conduct Absolutely No GMO Trials in 2014

by Christina Sarich
January 10th, 2014

Though GM wheat and potatoes have been trialed in the UK in recent years, 2014 will mark the first year that no GMO trials will occur in places like Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. 

The director of GM Freeze, Helene Paul says, “We’re celebrating a GM-free 2014 in UK fields – long may it continue. We congratulate the millions of UK farmers and shoppers standing up for what is right for their businesses and families, and we’re standing right beside them.” This will be the first year since 2007 that no trials will be conducted and that none are expected.

According to the UK government “Defra currently has no [GM trial] applications under consideration.” As more people in the UK, including farmers and consumers rally to tell their government that they aren’t interested in GM foods, the mega-giants of the food industry have started to finally pay attention. GMO trials have come to a halt in numerous countries throughout Europe. Trials in France, Poland, Italy, and elsewhere have been completely stopped. This includes transgenic GMO trees recently planted in Saint-Cyr-en-Val, near Orléans that were recently destroyed due to activist insistence.

“No matter what it says, the GM industry just hasn’t produced anything UK farmers can use or that consumers want. Instead the industry colludes with the Government to rig public dialogues, botch consultations, remove necessary regulations and proposes using public money to force pro-GM “education” onto the curriculum.

The aims of the GM wheat trial were never clear, despite the legal requirement for this information to be public before consent for such trials can be granted. We know that over the longer term GM crops cause more problems for farmers than they solve, and GM Freeze still wonders why the many risks were taken for such an unclear goal – unless it was simply to attract funding for further GM research and development. Of course it is also possible the consent given was the result of an assessment process that lacked the necessary rigour to comply with the law.

In any case we hope that the science establishment in the UK has learned that there is plenty of important and highly productive non-GM research needed, and the UK should be aiming to emerge as a centre of excellence in these areas rather than pursuing unnecessary GM crops that no one wants.

This success comes despite the fact that the biotech industry heavily supports Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, who even said people who supported the GMO-labeling movement were ‘wicked.’

Other Popular Stories:

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2. Don’t Believe the Hype: UK Citizens, Farmers Don’t Want GMOs – Surveys Say
3. India May Ban GMO Crop Field Trials for 10 Years
4. Court of Appeals Sides with Monsanto Over Organic Farmers
5. The Necessary GMO Ban – Labeling GMOs Won’t Stall Monsanto
6. AMA Paper Proposes Law Forcing People into Experimental Vaccine Trials

http://naturalsociety.com/gmo-failure-uk-first-gmo-trial-free-year-2014/

South Korea joins Japanese ban on U.S. wheat imports after shocking GMO contamination announcement by USDA

Sunday, June 02, 2013
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)



(NaturalNews) News about the GMO contamination of U.S. wheat crops seems to be spreading faster than the GMOs themselves. On Friday, South Korea joined Japan in announcing a halt on imports of U.S. wheat due to the USDA's recent announcement that commercial wheat grown in the USA is contaminated with Monsanto's genetically engineered wheat.

Some Americans may still not realize this, but GMOs are outlawed or shunned nearly everywhere around the world. Only in the USA have GMOs managed to avoid being labeled or outlawed -- and that's primarily due to Monsanto's financial influence over lawmakers.

Monsanto shares plummeted 4 percent on Friday following the announcement by South Korea. This is completely in line with predictions made here at Natural News, where I said earlier in the week, before Japan and South Korea announced their wheat boycotts:

All wheat produced in the United States will now be heavily scrutinized -- and possibly even rejected -- by other nations that traditionally import U.S. wheat. This obviously has enormous economic implications for U.S. farmers and agriculture.

How much of the U.S. wheat supply is now contaminated with GMOs?

"...the mysterious appearance of the Monsanto wheat has raised questions about how the strain traveled there and whether it is lurking in the commercial wheat crop," reports the Washington Post.

WashPo goes on to report that Monsanto, "is still testing strains of gene-altered wheat in Hawaii and North Dakota."

In truth, nobody knows how much of the wheat is contaminated. Every more shockingly, food companies don't bother testing wheat for GMOs, either!

Until now, that is. All of a sudden, food importers all around the world are wondering whether they are inadvertently buying U.S. wheat that's contaminated with GMOs. Consumers, too, are asking the question, "Have I been eating GMO wheat without even knowing it?" These Monsanto wheat experiments, after all, have been taking place since 1998.

Is Monsanto lurking in your Wheaties?

U.S. farmers suddenly seeing the economic damage that Monsanto can do

The real issue in all this, however, is an economic issue. Suddenly U.S. farmers are seeing the kind of economic destruction that can be caused by Monsanto's genetic engineering experiments.

Thanks to Monsanto and the USDA -- which approved the open-field experiments -- every U.S. farmer who grows wheat is now at high risk of losing enormous sums of money on a food crop that's increasingly being rejected around the world. This means Monsanto is pushing U.S. farmers toward bankruptcy while harming America's exports and GDP. Monsanto has become a force of economic destruction in America.

Will Monsanto reimburse all these farmers who suffer an economic loss? Not without being sued, of course. Perhaps it's time for a nationwide class-action lawsuit against Monsanto, supported by all commercial farmers who hope to be able to protect their crops from market-crushing GMO contamination.

Nobody wants GMOs except Monsanto!

Consumers don't want GMOs, farmers don't want GMOs, foreign nations don't want GMOs and food companies don't want to deal with the hassle of GMOs either. The only entity that still wants GMO in America is the very company making money off GMO: Monsanto.



http://www.naturalnews.com/040604_GMO_contamination_wheat_South_Korea.html

Japan halts imports of U.S. wheat after USDA's shock finding of genetic pollution from GMOs

Friday, May 31, 2013 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)

(NaturalNews) It has already begun: Japan has just cancelled a large contract to purchase U.S. wheat. "We will refrain from buying western white and feed wheat effective today," Toru Hisadome, a Japanese farm ministry official in charge of wheat trading, told Reuters.

As many readers well know, I predicted precisely this scenario just yesterday in a Natural News article warning about the consequences of genetic pollution. There, I wrote, "All wheat produced in the United States will now be heavily scrutinized -- and possibly even rejected -- by other nations that traditionally import U.S. wheat. This obviously has enormous economic implications for U.S. farmers and agriculture."

Now we're already seeing the result: the ditching of U.S. wheat by world nations that want nothing to do with GMOs.

Monsanto is a ticking time bomb for U.S. agriculture

This proves, without any question, that Monsanto's genetic experiments which "escaped" into commercial wheat fields are now going to devastate U.S. wheat farmers. Expect the floor to drop out on wheat prices, and watch for a huge backlash against the USDA by U.S. farmers who stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on this.

As the USDA has now admitted, Monsanto's GMO experiments from 1998 - 2005 were held in open wheat fields. The genetically engineered wheat escaped and found its way into commercial wheat fields in Oregon (and possibly 15 other states), causing self-replicating genetic pollution that now taints the entire U.S. wheat industry.

"Asian consumers are keenly sensitive to gene-altered food, with few countries allowing imports of such cereals for human consumption," writes Reuters. It continues:

Asia imports more than 40 million tonnes of wheat annually, almost a third of the global trade of 140-150 million tonnes. The bulk of the region's supplies come from the United States, the world's biggest exporter, and Australia, the No. 2 supplier.

Another incredible Monsanto achievement: the genetic contamination of the U.S. wheat supply

Nice job, Monsanto. You've managed to spew your genetic pollution across the fields of innocent U.S. farmers who are now going to lose huge sums of money due to the reject of U.S. wheat by all the other world nations that refuse to feed their populations GMO.

And a big thumbs up to the USDA, too, for screwing U.S. farmers by green-lighting open-field GMO experiments that we all warned were going to result in runaway genetic pollution. The USDA, of course, is the official cheerleading squad for Monsanto's criminal "science" that we all know is a total fraud. How do these scientists now suggest this self-replicating genetic pollution be put back into the black box from which it emerged?

It can't be done, of course. So now the entire future of the U.S. wheat supply is at risk thanks to Monsanto and the USDA. Nice one, folks. Score another victory for the scumbag destroyers in Washington D.C. and the greed-driven executives at our favorite corporation, Monsanto.

And remember: Genetically modified wheat is only the beginning. Monsanto has no doubt unleashed genetic pollution across many other crops as well. We're now living in an age where Monsanto is essentially ejaculating its patented seed across all the farms of America, then claiming to "own" the contaminated crops. What a wonderful image of corporate responsibility and service to humankind. I can't wait to see what other U.S. crops will be rejected by world nations due to Monsanto's genetic pollution.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/30/us-wheat-asia-idUSL3N0EB1JC...


http://www.naturalnews.com/040572_Japan_GE_wheat_genetic_pollution.html

US GMO genetic pollution alert

GMO genetic pollution alert: Genetically engineered wheat escapes experimental fields planted across 16 states

Thursday, May 30, 2013 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)

(NaturalNews) The genetic apocalypse we've been warning about for years may have already begun. The USDA just announced they found a significant amount of genetically engineered wheat growing in farm fields in Oregon. As the USDA announced yesterday, "...test results of plant samples from an Oregon farm indicate the presence of genetically engineered (GE) glyphosate-resistant wheat plants."

Why is this a big deal? Because GE wheat has never been approved for commercialization or sale. These strains of GE wheat escaped from GMO field experiments conducted across 16 states by Monsanto from 1998 to 2005. As the USDA states, "Further testing by USDA laboratories indicates the presence of the same GE glyphosate-resistant wheat variety that Monsanto was authorized to field test in 16 states from 1998 to 2005."

And that means genetic pollution is already out of control. The GE wheat for which Monsanto claims patent ownership is now invading farms that never planted GE wheat.

All U.S. commercially-grown wheat now suspect

There are at least five serious ramifications from this:

#1) Monsanto can now sue all the farms where GM wheat has been found growing. According to U.S. federal courts, those farmers have "stolen" Monsanto's intellectual property.

#2) The spread of GM wheat from experimental fields to wheat production fields is proof that GMOs cause genetic pollution -- self-replicating pollution with the potential to devastate global food production.

#3) All wheat produced in the United States will now be heavily scrutinized -- and possibly even rejected -- by other nations that traditionally import U.S. wheat. This obviously has enormous economic implications for U.S. farmers and agriculture.

#4) It proves the USDA cannot control the GMO field experiments it approves. Open-field experiments are not "safe" nor "controlled." They are experiments conducted in the open air, where genetic pollution is an inevitable result. The genetic pollution that began in 1998 can't be put back into the box in 2013...

#5) U.S. consumers who eat wheat products are right now almost certainly ingesting some level of genetically modified wheat. This level may currently be very small -- perhaps even less than 1% -- but it is yet another source of GMO pollution in the food supply that could hugely impact Americans' grocery shopping decisions.

U.S. wheat producers should be freaked out right now

Until today, Americans have been assured there are no GMOs in wheat products. They know that if you want to avoid GMOs, don't buy corn. Wheat has always been seen as a "safe haven" from genetically modified food.

But now that myth has been shattered with the USDA's announcement that they found GE wheat growing in farm fields in Oregon. If they found it in Oregon, it's probably present in the 15 other states where GE wheat was openly planted in experimental fields, too.

Don't worry about the safety of GE wheat, however. The USDA is absolutely sure it's completely safe for you. And why? Because Monsanto told the FDA it was safe!

I'm not kidding. Here's the USDA's official explanation of this non-logic:

The detection of this wheat variety does not pose a food safety concern. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) completed a voluntary consultation on the safety of food and feed derived from this GE glyphosate-resistant wheat variety in 2004. For the consultation, the developer provided information to FDA to support the safety of this wheat variety. FDA completed the voluntary consultation with no further questions concerning the safety of grain and forage derived from this wheat, meaning that this variety is as safe as non-GE wheat currently on the market.

Oh, so the FDA "consulted" with Monsanto who told them their GE wheat was safe? I feel so much better already. Because Monsanto would never lie to the FDA about the safety of its GMOs.

USDA says it's taking the findings seriously

"We are taking this situation very seriously and have launched a formal investigation," said Michael Firko, Acting Deputy Administrator for APHIS' Biotechnology Regulatory Services, a division of the USDA.

"Our first priority is to as quickly as possible determine the circumstances and extent of the situation and how it happened. We are collaborating with state, industry, and trading partners on this situation and are committed to providing timely information about our findings. USDA will put all necessary resources towards this investigation."

Why is the USDA moving so quickly on this issue? Because they know the discovery of GE wheat growing in "the wild" puts the entire credibility of the U.S. wheat supply at risk. GMOs are banned in at least 27 countries around the world, and those countries will not likely allow genetically-contaminated wheat to be imported from the United States.

Depending on what happens next, we could be looking at a global embargo of U.S. wheat exports, meaning the U.S. wheat market would all but collapse. (This might be a good time to consider shorting some wheat futures if you're into trading commodities...)

And while this would cause a short-term flooding of cheap wheat in the U.S. market (because nobody else is buying it), the drop in price would put so many wheat farmers out of business that wheat supply would be hard hit in 2014 and beyond, and that equals long-term price increases. GMOs being found in the wheat supply, in other words, means higher food prices for all Americans.

My repeated warning about a genetic apocalypse

It was just yesterday that I warned in a Natural News article about the potential for GMOs to cause a runaway genetic apocalypse. "A genetic apocalypse may devastate America's bread basket," I wrote, followed by:

Mark my words: there will come a day when Americans will wish they had burned all the GM corn fields to the ground. But by then it will be too late. The blight will be upon us, and with it comes the starvation, the suffering, the desperation and the riots. Hunger turns all family men into savages, just as greed turns all corporate men into demons.

There, I was talking about corn. But apparently this was too optimistic: wheat is now being impacted, too.

In that same article, I also stated, "the U.S. government is playing Russian roulette with America's food future" -- a statement that's somewhat hilarious given that Russia won't even play Russian roulette with its own crops. GMOs are a uniquely American form of corporate arrogance and genetic pollution. Nowhere in the world is agricultural imperialism so foolish yet so strongly backed by government gone bonkers.

By backing GMOs, the USDA is destroying the future of U.S. agriculture

The USDA announcement all but proves these warnings to be correct: GMOs really do escape experimental fields, and they really do infect and contaminate commercial crops in North America. Those crops then become tainted and are undesirable by 90% of consumers and most developed nations around the world. By allowing GMOs to continue to be planted anywhere in North America, the U.S. government is destroying the integrity of its agricultural industries for centuries to come.

Genetic pollution may never be able to be entirely removed from wheat, corn and other GM crops. And the worst part is that this genetic contamination may make these plants highly susceptible to threats that scientists have no way to anticipate or understand. While other nations around the world have exercised caution, the U.S. government conspired with Monsanto to abandon caution and risk the entire future of America's agricultural industry on quack corporate "science" that has turned out to be a genetic pollution nightmare.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/2013/05/ge_wheat_detection.shtml
http://farmfutures.com/story-usda-identifies-ge-glyphosate-resistant-...
http://tv.greenmedinfo.com/breaking-usda-finds-unnaproved-monsantos-g...

http://www.naturalnews.com/040541_GMO_genetic_pollution_GE_wheat.html