Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

from another list
---------------------------

Hi,

June Varner, a chapter leader in Tennessee, sent me this note and
link to an independent research study that shows E. Coli O157:H7 is
the result of genetic engineering.

June feels that if independent researchers have figured this out—so
has the industry. She says Cargill and Coke are partnering to use
stevia [rebiana, made from the leaves of the stevia plant] as a
sweetener and points out that this may be a way to ease out of corn
syrup. See:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-05-31-
cokecargill_N.htm

The cover of the Dec. 17th issue of BusinessWeek says, "Future Seed:
Despite the Noise About Organic Food, Monsanto is quietly winning the
battle over genetically modified crops."

A map in the BusinessWeek article says, "About 7% of the world's
acreage is now planted with genetically engineered seeds. The
majority is in the U.S. but in the past few years, Brazil, India and
China have leaped into the top ranks."

India's experience with genetic engineering is very, very sad.

There's a very dark side of genetic engineering (that's not in the
BusinessWeek puff piece).

A few film documentaries have been created to tell the world about
the 25,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide after they purchased
genetically engineered seeds (17,000 suicides in 2003). Genetically
engineered seeds are patented and when crops fail, they can't afford
to pay for their seeds.
Here's a link to a Frontline documentary: http://www.pbs.org/
frontlineworld/rough/2005/07/seeds_of_suicid.html

Indian farmers are fighting back.

Greta Wing Miller and Aarick Beher are filmmakers in Madison who
produced a film about organic farming in Wisconsin called "Back to
the Land...Again."

Greta recommended a film called How to Save the World: One man, One
cow, One Planet (www.howtosavetheworld.co.nz) produced by Tom and
Barbara Bustyn, New Zealanders whose film tells a story about Peter
Proctor, an 80 year-old bio-dynamic farming expert who moved to India
to help farmers recover from damage caused by genetically engineered
agriculture.

Their press release says, "Across India marginal farmers are fighting
back. By reviving an arcane form of agriculture, they are saving
their poisoned lands and exposing the bio-colonialism of multi-
national corporations. How to Save the World tells their story
through the teachings of an elderly New Zealander many are calling
the new Gandhi."

We bought How to Save the World for our chapter and I've watched it
twice. The film is in our chapter's lending library.

Tom and Barbara Bustyn's film is very positive and provides details
about India's recovery. Indian farmers are helping each other turn
their situation around. Tom and Barbara are calling their film "a
blueprint for a post-industrial future."

Mary Jo Fahey
Weston Price Co-chapter leader
Madison, Wisconsin




Research by Mae-Wan Ho and Traavik
that I sent out to a group recently. June
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a snippett from research that shows pathogenic E.coli
O157:H7 is the
result of genetic engineering.  [see from page 3] Beneficial E.coli
was used
as a vector to carry the altering trait into the seed DNA, it then
recombined with Shigella to form a NEW, NOVEL pathogen which
science has
labeled O157:H7.  In addition, [see from page 5] some of these novel
pathogens are resistant to chlorine. It is driving the industry crazy
looking for something that will kill them.  These pathogens are in the
animals gut from eating genetically engineered grains, so if any
part of the
entrails touches the flesh it is infected.  June Varner
>
http://www.biotech-info.net/infectious_diseases.pdf
>
>From page 3:As the entire orientation of genetic engineering is to
facilitate horizontal gene transfer, it is to be expected that
antibiotic
resistance genes as well as virulence genes will inadvertently
spread and
recombine to generate new, drug and antibiotic resistant pathogens.
>
Indeed, the evolution of virulence and the spread of drug and
antibiotic
resistances are now linked to the extensive horizontal gene
transfer and
recombination events among bacteria and viruses, many of which may
have
occurred in recent years. For example, horizontal gene transfer and
subsequent genetic recombination have given rise to the new bacterial
strains responsible for the cholera outbreak in India in 1992 (15–
17), and
for the Streptococcus epidemic in Tayside in 1993 (18–21). The E. coli
0157:07 strain involved in the recent outbreaks in Scotland is
believed to
have originated from horizontal gene transfer from the pathogen,
Shigella
(22). Many unrelated bacterial pathogens, causing diseases from
bubonic
plague to tree blight, are now found to share an entire set of
genes for
invading cells, which have spread widely by horizontal gene
transfer (23).
Similarly, genes for antibiotic resistances have been transferred
horizontally and have recombined with one another to generate multiple
antibiotic resistances throughout the bacterial populations (24).
Antibiotic
resistance genes spread readily between human beings, and from
bacteria
inhabiting the gut of farm animals to those in human beings (25)
>
>From page 5
>
The E. coli 0157, like other water-borne pathogens such as
Cryptosporidium,
Giardia and Shigella, had developed resistance to chlorine ((6), p.
430). The
mass outbreaks in Japan in 1996 were thought to be linked to white
radishes
(43), which may have come from contaminated soil. The specific
toxicity of
the strain is attributed to the Shiga-like toxin genes acquired by
horizontal gene transfer from Shigella (22, 46). One of these
genes, VT 1,
is almost completely identical in base sequence to that of Shigella,
indicating again, that the gene transfer was a very recent event.
>