By Evaggelos Vallianatos, 27 January 2013 Western civilization suffers from the delusion of replacing peasants and traditional culture with industrialized farmers. This goes hand-to-hand with another hazardous practice: privatizing and ruthlessly exploiting the natural world. This hubris has been infecting more than private corporate executives and governments, which, after all, have the models of nineteenth-century [...]
By The Bovine In 1999, 35 million small family plots produced 90% of Russia’s potatoes, 77% of vegetables, 87% of fruits, 59% of meat, 49% of milk — way to go, people! And since 1999, it seems things have only gotten better when it comes to small-scale agriculture in Russia. […]
GMOSeralini.org press release: New website shows public lied to about GM maize study 7 January 2013. Contact: Claire Robinson claire.robinson@gmoseralini.org A new website set up by scientists and citizens challenges criticisms of a landmark study [1] that found genetically modified (GM) maize damaged the health of rats. The group concludes there is an urgent need [...]
Earth Open Source press release, 12 November 2012 The EU approval of glyphosate, the main ingredient of the herbicide Roundup, is based on bad science and a “don’t look, don’t see” attitude on the part of regulators, according to a new peer-reviewed study.[1] […]
By Evaggelos Vallianatos 14 October 2012 The engineers who inserted the DNA bacterial gene, Bt, into corn assumed corn would produce nothing but a poison for the insects feeding on it. However, moving the Bt gene into the alien environment of corn, in addition to the insect-killing protein, the Bt gene could give birth to [...]
EU Commission waters down GM regulation just as new research shows “safe” GM maize causes increased tumours, organ damage, and premature death 20 September 2012 The European Commission is pushing through a new Regulation [1] that fatally weakens the way genetically modified (GM) foods are assessed for safety, according to a new report [...]
In September 2011 a Green Member of the Dutch Parliament, Rik Grashoff, put forward a Parliamentary motion proposing a ban on the "commercial use" of Roundup outside agriculture. In the motion, Grashoff cited evidence presented in Earth Open Source's report, "Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?". This report revealed [...]
A new video of Andres Carrasco, professor of Molecular Embryology Laboratory at University of Buenos Aires, talking about his research showing birth defects cause by glyphosate, present in Roundup Ready Soy. […]
By Evaggelos Vallianatos, 12 July 2012 Walter Goldschmidt, 1913-2010, was an anthropologist who worked for the US Department of Agriculture. In the early 1940s, he brought to light the undoing of rural America by large farmers and warned USDA officials that large farmers were destabilizing rural communities in the Central Valley of California.1 […]
Earth Open Source press release 17 June 2012 Aren’t critics of genetically engineered food anti-science? Isn’t the debate over GMOs (genetically modified organisms) a spat between emotional but ignorant activists on one hand and rational GM-supporting scientists on the other? […]