The Walking Dead Of the Food Industry

Scary stuff about the GMOs . . .

GMOs: The Walking Dead of the Food Industry 
By 1WORLDCommunity @Karl Fabricius, Environmental Graffiti, 2013

Some startling facts and figures about genetically modified organisms, detailing everything from the global area covered by GMO crops and the percentage of US foodstuffs containing these “walking dead,” to their negative environmental impact and the astonishingly high proportion of some foods containing them.

Barangan menakutkan mengenai GMOs . . .

GMOs: Industri Makanan ‘Yang Berjalan Mati’

Beberapa fakta dan angka-angka yang mengejutkan mengenai organisma yang diubahsuai secara genetik, memperincikan segala-galanya daripada kawasan global dilindungi oleh tanaman GMO dan peratusan bahan makanan Amerika yang mengandungi ini "berjalan mati," untuk kesan negatif alam sekitar dan kadar yang menghairankan tinggi beberapa makanan yang mengandunginya.

Source: GMOs: The Walking Dead of the Food Industry

The editors at Guide to Nursing Degrees decided to research the topic of:

GMOs: The Walking Dead of the Food Industry

GMO: Genetically Modified Organisms engineered from DNA of different species of plant, animal, bacterial, and viral genes. (1)

- Global Area of GMO crops:170.1 million hectares (2)

- Area of Alaska: 171.7 million hectares (3)

- 70: percentage of items in American food stores containing GMOs (4)

- 0: percentage of items in American food stores containing GMOs prior to 1996 (5)

- 50: nations (including all EU countries) restricting or banning GMO production/sales (6)

- In the US: FDA ruled GMOs not significantly different from naturally occurring foods

- Approval based on studies conducted by GMO manufacturers themselves (6)

- 87: percentage of consumers who want foods containing GMOs to be labeled

- 53: percentage of Americans who would refuse to buy genetically modified food

- 80: percentage of conventionally processed food containing GMOs in the US - labeling not required

- GMOs are manufactured for herbicide tolerance, particularly to glyphosate (RoundUp). Some negative effects:

- Glyphosate builds up in the soil, contaminating it. (7)

- Weeds resistant to glyphosate develop, spawning super weeds. (7)

- 1: breeds of weeds resistant to glyphosate (ryegrass found in Australia) prior to 2010

- 6: US states where glyphosate-resistant weeds have been reported in the past three years (8)

- 1500%: increase in herbicide production since GMOs introduced (7)

- Signing of "Monsanto Protection Act" prevents government restrictions on GMO food found to cause health risks (6)

- One corn GMO type threatened to wipe out Monarch butterfly larvae by contaminating milkweed (8)

- "None of the genetically modified food crops currently on the market offer benefits to consumers in terms of price, nutrition, or new products." Ucsusa.org (8)

- Over 40 genetically modified crops are allowed to be sold in the US. (8)

- GMOs make it possible for allergens in one food type to emerge in a completely different species. (8)

- GMOs found to transfer genetically altered DNA into the DNA of bacteria living in the human stomach, reproducing indefinitely. (9)

- GMOs can contaminate existing species being grown organically. (9)

- GMO producers can actually sue farmers whose crops are infected by GMO contaminates for intellectual property theft. (9)

- As evidenced by the percentage of crops containing GMOs, producers like Monsanto have a virtual monopoly on the US farming industry. (10)

Top foods containing GMOs

- Sugar Beets (95% of US crop)

- Soy (94% of US crop)

- Canola (90% of US crop)

- Cotton (90% of US crop)

- Corn (88% of US crop) (9)

Sources

- (1) http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/what-is-gmo/ 

- (2) http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/44/executivesummary/pdf/Brief%2044%20-%20Executive%20Summary%20-%20English.pdf 

- (3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area 

- (4) http://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelhennessey/2012/11/03/gmo-food-debate-in-the-national-spotlight/ 

- (5) http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/02/gmo-farming-crops-more-popular-than-ever-world-charts 

- (6) http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/


- [7] http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/health/gmo-toxicity-affects-animals-plants-and-soil-336742.html 

- (8) http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/our-failing-food-system/genetic-engineering/environmental-effects-of.html#monarch 

- (9) http://www.naturalnews.com/038792_GMO_toxicity_digestion_cancer.html 

- (10) http://grist.org/food/monsanto-flirts-with-disaster-owns-the-world-anyway/

FOTO 2013: 'Anak-anak pelarian Syria membuang air dan lumpur dari khemah mereka selepas banjir di kem pelarian Zaatari Syria, berdekatan sempadan Syria di Mafraq, Jordan' . . .

IMEJ 2013: Anak-anak pelarian Syria membuang air dan lumpur dari khemah mereka selepas banjir di kem pelarian Zaatari Syria, berdekatan sempadan Syria di Mafraq, Jordan, Selasa, Januari 8, 2013. Pelarian di kem Jordan Syria menyerang pekerja bantuan dengan kayu dan batu pada Selasa, kecewa selepas kesejukan, lolongan angin menghanyutkan khemah-khemah mereka dan hujan lebat yang membanjiri jalan-jalan berlumpur semalaman. Polis berkata, 7 pekerja bantuan yang cedera.

Syrian refugee girls remove water and mud from their tent after a flood at Zaatari Syrian refugee camp, near the Syrian border in Mafraq, Jordan, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013. Syrian refugees in a Jordanian camp attacked aid workers with sticks and stones on Tuesday, frustrated after cold, howling winds swept away their tents and torrential rains flooded muddy streets overnight. Police said seven aid workers were injured. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

FOTO 2013: 'Pelarian Syria kelihatan di luar khemah mereka, di kem pelarian sementara di bandar timur Lubnan Marj berhampiran sempadan dengan Syria, Lebanon' . . .

IMEJ 2013: 'Pelarian Syria kelihatan di luar khemah mereka, di kem pelarian sementara di bandar timur Lubnan Marj berhampiran sempadan dengan Syria, Lebanon, Isnin, Januari 7, 2013. Pelarian Syria bekerja memperkukuhkan khemah mereka selepas mereka telah dibanjiri dan beberapa yang ditiup oleh hujan lebat dan angin kencang. Hujan lebat yang berat ditambah oleh salji di atas ketinggian sederhana dan angin tinggi memukul Lubnan menyebabkan bahan kerosakan, banjir dan memerangkap orang dalam kereta mereka. Terutamanya keras melanda beribu-ribu pelarian Syria yang melarikan diri ke Lubnan, sesetengah daripada mereka yang tinggal di khemah-khemah berhampiran sempadan dengan Syria.'

Syrian refugee boys look outside their tent, at a temporary refugee camp in the eastern Lebanese town of Marj near the border with Syria, Lebanon, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. Syrian refugees worked on reinforcing their tents after they were flooded and some blown away by torrential rains and high winds. A heavy rainstorm coupled by snow on medium altitudes and high winds is hitting Lebanon causing material damage, flooding and trapping people in their cars. Particularly hard hit are thousands of Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon, some of whom are staying in tents near the border with Syria. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

(FOTO 2013): Wanita India membawa pelekat sepanduk mereka berarak untuk meratapi kematian mangsa rogol geng di New Delhi, India, Rabu, Januari 2, 2013 . . .

(IMEJ 2013): Wanita India membawa pelekat sepanduk mereka berarak untuk meratapi kematian mangsa rogol geng di New Delhi, India, Rabu, Januari 2, 2013. Mahkamah atas India mengatakan ia akan memutuskan sama ada untuk menggantung ahli parlimen yang menghadapi tuduhan serangan seksual seperti beribu-ribu wanita berkumpul di memorial kemerdekaan pemimpin Mahatma K. Gandhi untuk menuntut perlindungan yang lebih kukuh untuk keselamatan mereka. Sepanduk membaca "India tidak akan bertolak ansur dengan penghinaan wanita dan Kami mahu tidak menghormati keganasan dalam kehidupan." (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Indian women carry placards as they march to mourn the death of a gang rape victim in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. India's top court says it will decide whether to suspend lawmakers facing sexual assault charges as thousands of women gathered at the memorial to independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi to demand stronger protection for their safety. The banners read "India won't tolerate women's insult and We want respect not violence in life." (AP Phot/Dar Yasin)

FOTO 2013: Seorang wanita meraikan Tahun Baru menonton bunga api meletup di atas pantai Copacabana di Rio de Janeiro . . .

IMEJ TAHUN 2013: Seorang wanita meraikan Tahun Baru menonton bunga api meletup di atas pantai Copacabana di Rio de Janeiro (A woman celebrates the New Year as she watches fireworks exploding above Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro January_1, 2013)

FOTO 2012: Seorang lelaki ski pasir di padang pasir berhampiran Tabuk, 1,500 km

IMEJ TAHUN 2012: Seorang lelaki ski pasir di padang pasir berhampiran Tabuk, 1,500 km (A man sand skis in the desert near Tabuk, 1,500 km (932 miles) from Riyadh December 27, 2012 (REUTERS, Mohamed Alhwaity)

FOTO 2012: Pejuang Free Syrian Army bersenjata api semasa pertempuran dengan pasukan yang setia kepada Presiden Syria Bashar Al-Assad . . .

IMEJ TAHUN 2012: Pejuang Free Syrian Army bersenjata api semasa pertempuran dengan pasukan yang setia kepada Presiden Syria Bashar Al-Assad di Aleppo Bustan al-Qasr daerah December_30, 2012 (A Free Syrian Army fighter fires his weapon during clashes with forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr district December_30, 2012)

FOTO 2012: Seorang wanita, melompat mengambil tali dari 144 kaki tinggi . . .

IMEJ TAHUN 2012: Seorang wanita, berpakaian dalam kostum Halloween, melompat mengambil tali dari tinggi 44 meter (144 kaki tinggi) paip air lama jambatan di kawasan Taiga Siberia luar Krasnoyarsk (A woman, dressed in a Halloween costume, takes a rope jump from a 44-metre high (144-feet high) old water pipe bridge in the Siberian Taiga area outside Krasnoyarsk October_28, 2012)

FOTO 2012: Penunjuk perasaan melaungkan slogan mereka dikelilingi oleh polis perhimpunan protes New Delhi . . .

IMEJ TAHUN 2012: Penunjuk perasaan melaungkan slogan kerana mereka dikelilingi oleh polis semasa perhimpunan protes di New Delhi (Demonstrators shout slogans as they are surrounded by the police during a protest rally in New Delhi December_27, 2012)