You may forward Planet Waves Monsanto Eco to your friends. They can sign up for this free environmental newsletter from Planet Waves. View this edition as a webpage. Dear Friend and Reader: Ib Borup Pedersen, a pig farmer in Denmark, initially thought nothing of switching his pigs to cheaper, genetically modified soy when their regular, non-GM feed ran out after feeding it to them for three years. Initial effects of the switch soon caught his herdsman’s attention (diarrhea, lack of appetite); but when they witnessed piglets being born with high rates of birth defects, Pedersen sent 38 of his euthanized piglets to be tested for glyphosate, the herbicide used on the GM soy, TruthOut reported Aug. 8.
Despite studies as far back as the 1980s showing a wide spectrum of birth defects associated with glyphosate, the chemical has remained on the market. Researchers in Argentina demonstrated in 2010 that glyphosate attacks the Vitamin A (retinoic acid) signaling pathway necessary for normal fetal development in vertebrates. Yet glyphosate use is spreading and Monsanto is pushing its glyphosate-resistant crops worldwide -- all predicated on Monsanto’s use of tests conducted by the notoriously fraudulent IBT labs to register the chemical with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Increased use of glyphosate with Roundup-Ready crops equals increased concentrations of this dangerous chemical in our food -- both directly in produce we eat, and potentially indirectly via animals who eat GM feed treated with the herbicide. Washing does not remove it; cooking does not break it down; and the residue can persist in food for at least a year. The EPA is slated to re-evaluate glyphosate later in 2014, with a decision due in 2015. Let’s hope they don’t leave "this little piggy" (and the rest of us) crying all the way home. Mexican Honey Producers vs. GM Soy Convinced by evidence revealing the threats posed by GM soy crops to honey production in Mexico, a district judge in the state of Yucatan overturned a permit last month issued to Monsanto, The Guardian reported Aug. 8. The permit gave Monsanto authorization to plant its GM seeds in seven states -- covering over 625,000 acres.
U.S. Wildlife Refuges To Become GM- and Neonicotinoid-Free Use of neonicotinoid pesticides and GM crops will be phased out by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at farming projects on all national wildlife refuges by January 2016, Truthout reported last week. Neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides related to nicotine, have been shown to harm vital pollinators like honeybees and bumblebees. The ban comes after a long battle by environmental groups who have filed multiple lawsuits dating back to 2005, citing scientific studies that prove pesticide use harms native grasses and wildlife. According to the federal agency's memo, the decision "is based on the underlying principle of wildlife conservation that favors management that restores or mimics natural ecosystem processes or functions to achieve refuge purpose(s)." California Groundwater Extraction, Drought Linked to Earthquakes Daily life in much of the Western and Southwestern U.S. flies in the face of "natural ecosystem processes" simply by virtue of how much water cities need to extract from the Earth -- and now evidence of unanticipated consequences exacerbated by weather and climate trends is surfacing. California’s ongoing drought may increase the incidence of earthquakes in the Southwest, according to a study published in the journal Nature earlier this year, Take Part reported on Aug. 4.
"Groundwater pumping unburdens the lithosphere," said William Hammond, a geologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, and coauthor of the Nature study. "The earth flexes up and down, and small earthquakes seem to respond to that." Electricity Generation Causing Global Water Scarcity Speaking of water, two new studies suggest that without major, immediate shifts to solar and wind to generate electricity, there will not be enough clean drinking water for the world by the year 2040, Science Daily reported July 29. Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark, Vermont Law School and CNA Corporation in the U.S. conducted the research. Because power plants need water to run cooling systems, electricity generation is the leading consumer of water in most countries. Yet most power generating systems do not track how much water they are using. "This means that we'll have to decide where we spend our water in the future. Do we want to spend it on keeping the power plants going or as drinking water? We don't have enough water to do both," says Professor Benjamin Sovacool of Aarhus University. We’re 'Zonkey' For Telegraph! Southern Crimea's Taigan zoo recently welcomed its newest resident, a crossbreed of a donkey and zebra, The Guardian reported Aug. 7. The zebroid (or "zonkey"), which has been named Telegraph, has the solid brown head and body of his donkey father and striped legs of his zebra mom. While crossbreeding is not uncommon in zoos, it's generally frowned upon because it threatens the preservation of wild species.
And Now For Something Completely Different: In a report of potentially groundbreaking significance, The Onion has revealed that the fastest-working human instinct may no longer be blinking or flinching, but rather assigning blame. The account, published Aug. 6, confirms that the brain is now capable of proceeding from determining a problem or witnessing an unpleasant event, to finding fault with potentially whole groups of people in mere milliseconds; while in a related development, accepting responsibility has almost vanished as a human response. According to neuro-expert John Wittsack, the instinct "may soon be too rapid to be measured even by our most sensitive instruments." Rumors suggest Wittsack is currently studying how quickly 'Godwins' appear on comment sites. Yours & truly,  Amanda Painter and the ECO editorial team You may forward Planet Waves Monsanto Eco to your friends. They can sign up for this free environmental newsletter from Planet Waves. View this edition as a webpage. Planet Waves Monsanto Watch (ISSN 1933-9135) is published each Tuesday evening in Kingston, New York by Planet Waves, Inc. Editor and Publisher: Eric Francis Coppolino. Business Manager: Chelsea Bottinelli. Web Developer: Anatoly Ryzhenko. Research, Writing and Editing: Planet Waves Monsanto Watch is produced by a team consisting of Elizabeth Michaud, Amanda Moreno, Amanda Painter, Amy Elliott, Carol van Strum, Len Wallick and Chad Woodward.  Good as Gold: The Planet Waves Midyear Reading These readings will be available Wednesday once the pages are prepped. We'll leave the price at pre-order ($49.95 for all 12) till Wednesday afternoon EDT then gradually increase the price through the week to to full fare, $79.95, by Saturday. You can listen to a free audio preview here. If you have not already noticed, 2014 is really two years in one, with version 2.0 beginning right about now. With all of the inner planets direct, Jupiter entering a fire sign and Mars coming home to its native Scorpio, a whole new concept of life and of astrology is reaching out to us. I will be unfolding this brand new aspect pattern for all 12 signs and rising signs in my midyear reading, called Good as Gold -- which I am recording this week.
I will provide ideas, strategies, motivational rants (my specialty) and ideas I've learned in therapy to get the blocks out of the way, access your courage, and invoke your vision for yourself. How do you manage the transition out of something old that is not really working and into something new, with the simultaneous demands of a learning curve, balancing yourself financially and staying inspired? These and other things are what I will be exploring. Good as Gold is available for pre-order now at $49.95 for all 12 signs. We start with the lowest price for all 12, gradually raise the price, then sell one reading for about what we were initially asking for all 12. Now is the time to get the best rate on the whole package, so you can listen to your Sun, Moon and rising signs, and check in with the readings for your collaborators. Here is that link Lovingly,  To unsubscribe, click here e Wiki | Friends | Editors | Contact Us Copyright © 2013 by Planet Waves, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Other copyrights may apply. Some images used under Fair Use or Share Alike attribution. |
